Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Section I
P A P E R S
Equations
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
2. Women Speak! 21
Women's Engagement with Community Based and
Nature Based Tourism, July 2009
5. REDD in India 41
An Independent Monitoring Report, December 2009
2
The Tourism
Development Conundrum
Impacts and Conflicts with Peoples’ Rights and Challenges to
Conservation of Protected Areas in Indian States
July 2009
1. Introduction
Ecotourism is being pushed aggressively in and around terrestrial and marine protected areas - wildlife
sanctuaries and national parks, and unprotected areas that are of significant ecological value. Many
of these areas are inhabited by indigenous peoples. While these areas have been conserved by
indigenous and local communities, they have been, very often forcibly, displaced from these areas for
the purpose of conservation. In many Indian states the governments are still attempting to lure them
out of the forest areas by promising monetary or land compensations. While the motive behind displacing
the indigenous and local communities is stated by the governments as primarily for conservation,
areas that were set aside by law for conservation have witnessed an increase in tourism activities.
Protected Areas in India have had a history of visitation even prior to their being declared as wildlife
sanctuaries and national parks under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 as in the case of Corbett
National Park and Kanha National Park. The volume however was small compared to the scale in
which it happens today. However, the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 has allowed tourist activity
inside the Protected Areas. Therefore, when newer areas get declared as protected under the Wild
Life (Protection) Act, 1972, there is no problem for tourist related activities to happen in those areas
e.g. in Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh. There is also a tendency within the state
forest, tourism departments and some tourism industry players to label as ecotourism any tourism
activities that happen in these protected and unprotected areas. The Madhya Pradesh Ecotourism
Development Board identifies Kanha and Bandhavgarh national parks as ecotourism destinations but
not many resort owners based there claim that they are into ecotourism. The label ecotourism seems
loosely applied to market tourism to a growing but niche segment who wants more ecotourism. Some
tourism players have used the term to indicate their a few eco-friendly practices that they have adopted.
In India, ecotourism in practice generally is not much different from the way in which mainstream or
mass tourism operates as it lacks the essential principles of environmental sustainability and equity in
benefit sharing with indigenous & local communities. Therefore, in this paper, we shall use the term
tourism rather than the generally misused “ecotourism”.
We have selected four states to understand the challenges that tourism development poses in the
context of environmental impacts of tourism and involvement of institutions of local self government in
tourism. These are the northern state of Uttarakhand, the central Indian Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
and the Union Territory Andaman Islands. Ecotourism is actively being pursued in the Protected
Areas of these states; even in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh which have the special status of
having Schedule V Areas1.
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand became the 27th state of the Republic of India on 9th November 2000. The state was
carved out of Uttar Pradesh. One of the reasons for the formation of the state was for greater autonomy
to the people of Uttarakhand. It has a total land area of 51,125 sq km,2 of which 93% is mountainous
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and 64% is covered by forest.3 Protected Areas in Uttarakhand include the Jim Corbett National Park
(the oldest national park of India) at Ramnagar in Nainital District, Valley of Flowers National Park and
Nanda Devi National Park in Chamoli District, Rajaji National Park in Haridwar District, and Govind
Pashu Vihar National Park and Gangotri National Park in Uttarkashi District.4 The state has been a
destination for mountaineering, hiking and rock climbing in India, a recent development in adventure
tourism, in the region has been white water rafting and other adventures sports. Ecotourism, agri-
tourism and rural tourism have also found new grounds in many villages of the state.5
The people of Uttarakhand are heterodox Hindus and Buddhists, while Sikh migrants from West
Punjab have settled in the lowlands since 1947. The main indigenous tribes are Jaunsari, Bhotia,
Buksha, Tharu and Raji. As a collection of smaller tribes, Jaunsari society is caste stratified with the
indigenous Koltas as the main service caste and Khasa Brahmins and Rajputs as the main cultivators.
Bhotias are subdivided into three main categories: The Jadhs of Uttarkashi, the Marchas (once mainly
traders) and Tolchas (farmers) of Chamoli, and the Shaukas of Pithoragarh (near Dharchula). The
Bukshas are inhabitants of the Terai. They have merged all their castes and even today, observe only
septs (family names) among their people. The Tharus are a tribal Tibetan-related people that originally
inhabited the eastern zone of the Terai, along the border with Nepal. They are subdivided into many
sub-tribes, although a majority of them live in Nainital (now Udham Singh Nagar). As agriculuralists,
Tharus tend to have large families that live communally, and it is traditional for brothers to live under
one roof. The Rajis, also known as Vanrawats (forest lords) are few in number and live in the forest.
They inhabit the woods around Ascot in southern Pithoragarh (now Champawat district). A few Muslim
groups are also native to the area, although most have come recently. The Muslim Gujjar herders also
migrate to the hills.6 The Gujjars also inhabit forest areas such as in Rajaji and Corbett.
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh is the second largest Indian state in size with an area of 308,000 sq km.7 The forest
area of the state is 94,689.38 sq km constituting 30.71% of the geographical area of the state.8 There
are 9 National Parks and 25 Sanctuaries spread over an area of 10,862 sq. km constituting 11.40% of
the total forest area. The national parks are: Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Satpura, Sanjay, Madhav, Van Vihar,
Mandla Plant Fossils, Panna and Pench. The wildlife sanctuaries are: Bori, Bagdara, Phen, Ghatigaon,
Gandhisagar, Karera, Ken, Ghariyal, Kheoni, Narsinghgarh, N. Chambal, Nauradehi, Pachmari, Panpatha,
Kuno, Pench, Ratapani, Sanjay Dubri, Singhori, Son Ghariyal, Sardapur, Sailana, Ralamandal, Orchha,
Gangau and V. Durgawati.9 The state has been a destination for wildlife tourism, cultural and heritage
tourism, and pilgrimages. The state plans to enter the leisure and business tourism.10
The total population of Tribals in Madhya Pradesh is 122.33 lakh constituting about 20.27% of the
total population of the state. There are 46 Scheduled Tribal groups and 3 Special Primitive Tribal
Groups. About 40.63% of total geographical area of the state is under the Tribal Sub Plan and 33.6%
of total geographical area has been notified as Scheduled Area.11 The tribal area of Madhya Pradesh
can be divided into four main zones as follows:
O Western Cultural Zone: Districts of Ratlam, Jhabua, Dhar, Barwani, Khargone, Khandwa, Harda,
Dewas and Indore fall under this zone. The main tribes residing in this zone are Bhil, Bhilala,
Barela and Patelia.
O Central Cultural Zone: This zone comprises of Mandla, Dindori, Balaghat, Seoni, Chhindwara,
Jabalpur, Katni, Narsimhapur, Sagar, Damoh, Umaria, Sehore and Bhopal. The main tribes residing
in this zone are Gond, Pardhan, Korku, Baiga, Bharia, Nagarachi and Ojha.
O North-Eastern Cultural Zone: Districts of Shahdol, Sidhi, Rewa, Satna, Panna, Chhatarpur, Guna
and Tikamgar fall under this zone. Kol, Biar, Panika, Sour and Pav are the main tribes residing in
this zone.
O North-Western Cultural Zone: This zone consists of Morena, Shivpuri, Sheopur, Datia, Gwalior
and Bhind districts. The main tribe residing in this zone is Seharia. Three Special Primitive Tribal
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The Tourism Development Conundrum
Groups - Bharia (Patalkot, Chhindwara), Baiga (Umaria, Shahdol, Dindori, Balaghat and Mandla)
and Seharia (Shivpuri, Sheopur, Guna, Gwalior, Morena) reside in Madhya Pradesh.12
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh came into being on 1st November 2000 as the 26th State
of the Union. It fulfils the long-cherished demand of the tribal people.13 The forest area of the state is
59,772.39 sq km. 14 It has 10.88% of its forests under Protected Area (PA) network. There are three
national parks: Indravati, Kanger Ghati and Guru Ghasidas, and eleven wildlife sanctuaries:
Achanakmar, Badalkhol, Bhairamgarh, Barnawapara, Gomarda, Pameda, Semarsot, Sitanadi, Tamor
Pingala, Udanti, Bhoramdev.15 The state has identified ecotourism, culture, heritage, ethno tourism,
pilgrimages, adventure tourism, and business & leisure tourism as the thrust areas.16
The population of Chhattisgarh is notable for the high proportion of Scheduled Tribes and for specific sects
primarily constituted of Schedule Castes. Of the total population of Chhattisgarh, tribals constitute at least
32.5%, which is a significantly high percentage. In the last few decades, the demographic profile of tribal
dominated areas has undergone a change. This is a cause for concern as it represents large-scale intrusion
of non tribals in tribal areas. This changing demographic profile is strongly evident in Bastar, where the
proportion of tribals has decreased in the last few decades. According to the 1991 census the tribal population
in the ten districts of Chhattisgarh was Durg -12.6 %, Raipur - 18.6%, Rajnandgaon - 25.3 %, Bilaspur -
23.4 % Surguja - 54.8 %, Raigarh - 45.5%, Bastar - 67.7 %. The various tribes in the Chhattisgarh region
are Gonds, Muria, Bhumja, Baiga, Kanars, Kawars, Halbas etc.17
Andaman Islands
The Andaman & Nicobar are a group of picturesque islands, big and small, inhabited and uninhabited,
a total of 572 islands, islets and rocks lying in the South Eastern Part of the Bay of Bengal.18 The
forests in the Andaman and the Nicobar group of islands occupy 7,606 km² or 92.2 per cent of the total
geographical area of 8,249 km²; of this 5,883 km² is forests in the Andaman group and 1,723 km², in
the Nicobar group. (Note: The Directorate of Economics and Statistics puts the forest cover in 2006
as 5,629 km2 for Andamans and 1,542 km2 for the Nicobars). Of the total forest cover, dense forests
with crown density of 40 per cent and above constitute 85.9 per cent, open forests with crown density
less than 40 per cent constitute 1.7 per cent and mangroves constitute 12.7 per cent. The legally
notified forests cover 7,170. 69 km² (86.93 per cent of the geographical area); of this, 4,242 km² are
protected forests and 2,929 km² are reserved forests. The A&NI are fringed by one of the most
spectacular and extensive reefs in the world that hold significance nationally and globally as the last
pristine reefs in the Indian Ocean. However, the extent of reefs in the A&NI is not accurately known
yet and recent surveys report it as 11,939 km². There are two protected areas for reefs in the Andamans
– the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park and the Rani Jhansi Marine National Park, both having
adjoining reefs that need inclusion.19
The Andaman Islands are home to four indigenous tribes. The Great Andamanese people numbered
around 6,000 in the 1850s, when the islands were colonised by the British for establishing a penal colony.
Today they number 43 and have been marginalised to Strait Island on the southeast coast of Middle
Andaman. The Onge who now inhabit Little Andaman Island were the next to be contacted in 1920 and
they met a fate similar to that of the Andamanese. The Sentinelese, estimated to be 39 in number, have for
long inhabited North Sentinel Island 60 km southwest of South Andaman Island. The Jarawas are in the
interior and west coast of South and Middle Andaman and currently number about 240.20
A dynamic demographic profile of the islands makes it difficult to define the term “local community”, as
it does not constitute any homogeneous group. There are 503 inhabited villages in the A&NI of which
334 are in the Andaman District on eleven islands and the remaining 170 villages, hamlets, and small
and individual family units on 12 islands in the Nicobar district. The total population according to the
2001 census is 356,152.21
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The Tourism Development Conundrum
impeded free public use. On the other hand, extractive industries are allowed to operate even in
protected areas and other ecologically sensitive areas, on government subsidies and incentives with
procedures that streamline approval of these projects in the absence of any environmental or social
impact assessment reports.
It is therefore that when the tourism industry makes an easy entry into these spaces, facilitated by
governments that the local people ask “why the Taj is considered eco and not the Baiga” 22.
Uttarakhand
Created in 1955-56, it is the oldest National Park of India. It was one of the nine Tiger Reserves
created at the launch of the Project Tiger in 1973. Corbett National Park lies in two districts – Nainital
and Pauri. It covers an area of 521 sq. km and together with the neighbouring Sonanadi Wildlife
Sanctuary and Reserve Forest areas, forms the Corbett Tiger Reserve over 1,288 sq. km.23 The
original area of the Park was 323.75 sq. km. to which 197.07 sq. km. was added later. An area of
797.72 sq. km. was added as buffer of the Corbett Tiger Reserve in 1991. This area includes the
whole of Kalagarh Forest Division (including 301.18 sq. km. area of Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary),
96.70 sq. km. of Ramnagar Forest Division and 89 sq. km.24
Tourism is allowed in selected areas of Corbett Tiger Reserve.25 The main tourism areas in Corbett are
Dhikala, Jhirna, Bijrani, Sonanadi and Domunda. Only day visits in conducted safaris are allowed in the
tourism areas in vehicles approved by the Forest Department and accompanied by a Forest Department
trained and licensed guide. For night halts three tourist complexes located at Dhikala, Gairal and Bijrani
offer a choice of accommodation type. Dhikala has the maximum bed capacity including a dormitory.
Basic lodging is available for tourists at other Forest Rest Houses at Malani, Sultan, Gairal, Sarpduli,
Khinanauli, Kanda and Jhirna. Visitors can also stay at the Forest Rest Houses at Lohachaur, Rathuadhab,
Halduparao, Mundiapani, Morghatti, Sendhikhal and Dhela.26 Apart from these, there are many resorts,
lodges and hotels in Ramnagar and Dhikuli, which are on the border of the Park. The number of tourism
establishments in Dhikuli alone has been estimated as 49 along a stretch of 18 km.27
Corbett remains open to tourists from 15th November to 15th June. The main reason for closure of the
Park during the rest of the year is that during the monsoons most of the roads get washed away.
Repair work starts after the rains end and it is only by November that roads are back in motorable
condition.28 The number of visitors to Corbett in 2006-07 was 139,047, with 130,714 domestic tourists
and 8,333 foreign tourists.29
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The development of private tourism resorts around Corbett began in early 1990s. The tourists
who came to Corbett earlier were the serious types but the profile of tourists has changed
considerably over the years. Now the tourists who come mainly from cities are not interested in
wildlife and nature, but rather want to only have a sighting of the tiger. The way tourism is
handled in Corbett gives an impression that Corbett belongs to the tourism industry. There is
also no proper interpretation centre for the tourists.
The [migratory] corridors around Corbett have been choked due to the coming up of the resorts.
This has led to an increase in human – animal conflict.
Villages around Corbett have been displaced by resorts and in many instances land belonging
to Scheduled Tribes has been purchased in connivance with the government.
There is lot of sewage that is being dumped in the Kosi River from the resorts. During weekends
and other holidays [when there is a surge of tourists] resorts play music loudly, which disturbs
the local people and the animals in the forest.
- Pers. Comm. with Ganesh Rawat, journalist, Ramnagar, 8th November 2008
Corbett receives around 3,000 visitors per day during the tourist season, but most of them do
not come to the bazaar and stay in the resorts. So where is the question of local people benefitting
from tourism? The only opportunities for local people are to run Gypsies (safari vehicles) inside
the Park and some of them get employed as guides.
Tourism in Corbett is very expensive and is beyond the reach of low budget tourists. Therefore,
facilities for low budget tourists should also be created. In this regard, home-stay facilities
could be created in Ramnagar by involving the local Panchayat. These could be marketed by
the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam.
There is serious issue of land around Corbett. While the norm in Uttarakhand is that people
from outside Uttarakhand cannot buy more than 100 sq m of land without the permission of the
District Magistrate and stating clear reasons; upto 100 sq m can be bought without permission;
there has been large scale transactions of land in Dhikuli, Marachula (near Ramganga River)
and Dhela. The cost of land has increased to Rs. 40,00,000 per bigha32 while it was only
around Rs. 50,000 per bigha ten years back.
The Government listens only to resort owners & not local people. To make a submission local
people have to make roads block, whereas government officials are sitting in resorts and
addressing their issues. No resort owner is interested in addressing over all development issues
of the area like education, transportation etc, from which they will also be benefitted. Similarly,
the Forest Development will hold discussion with resort owners and not with local traders
association.
- Pers. Comm. with Prabhat Dhyani, Editor, Uttarakhand Prabhat Times,
Ramnagar, 8th November 2008
Human – animal conflict in Corbett has also been attributed to tourism when a woman was killed by a
tiger in Dhikuli on the periphery of the Corbett National Park. A media report states: “The tiger was
declared a maneater after it killed a woman who had entered the buffer zone of the reserve three days
ago. It has also attacked two people who were riding a motorbike. We have all options open to deal
with this now. It may be eliminated if it cannot be caught,” says Vinod Singhal, director, Corbett Tiger
Reserve. But the problem, he admits, is man-made. “This particular tiger did not tolerate the presence
of elephants (carrying tourists) and used to charge at them. He gradually lost his fear of humans.
Tourism around the park is a problem. Ideally, it has to be checked,” he says.33 The story is further
8
The Tourism Development Conundrum
corroborated by the woman Bhagwati Devi’s husband, B. C. Nainwal who says “It is the policies of the
government that made the tiger a victim of public ire ... The tiger was roaming near Dhikuli for four-five
months. The main reason was elephant safaris by resorts here. They are known to throw meat in front
of the tiger to increase the sighting of the big cat.”34
Madhya Pradesh
– Kanha National Park
Kanha is one of the oldest wildlife sanctuaries in India and is spread over Mandla and Balaghat
districts. It was declared as a reserve forest in 1879 and upgraded to a wildlife sanctuary in 1933. It
was declared as a National Park in 1955 and then declared as a tiger reserve in 1973. It covers an
area of 944 sq km, which forms the core zone of the Kanha Tiger Reserve; the surrounding area of
1,009 sq km is the buffer zone. The neighbouring 110 sq km Phen Wildlife Sanctuary forms micro-
core of the Kanha Tiger Reserve. Between 1969 and 1998, 27 villages were relocated from the core
zone of the Park.35
The Park is open to tourists from 1st October to 30th June, and it remains closed between the monsoon
months of July and September. There are two entry points to the Park namely Khatia and Mukki. Tourists
are allowed in two batches during morning and afternoon between 6.30 am – 10.30 am & 2.30 pm – 5.30
pm. Only light petrol and diesel vehicles with four-wheel drive manufactured in the last 5 years are
allowed inside the park.36 Each vehicle has to be accompanied by a Forest Department trained and
licensed guide. A total of 140 vehicles are allowed per day. Most of the vehicles are locally owned.
Accommodation is provided by both government and private establishments. While some government
lodges are located inside the Park, the private lodges are concentrated around the two entry points
namely Khatia and Mukki.37 The Forest Department puts the capacity of accommodation to 500 beds.
Kanha received 97,258 domestic tourists and 8,573 foreign tourists during the year 2007.38
– Bandhavgarh National Park
Bandhavgarh has been an excellent habitat of tiger and is known for the highest density of tigers in
the world. The area of 105 sq km was notified in 1968 as a National Park. The remaining part of the
National Park i.e. 343.842 sq. km. is yet to be finally declared though State Government had made the
initial notification in 1982. Panpatha Sanctuary with an area of 245.847 sq. km. was declared in 1983.
Considering the importance of the National park, it was included in the Project Tiger Network in 1993.
The adjoining Panpatha Sanctuary too was declared as a part of the Reserve.39 It is located in the
Umaria District of Madhya Pradesh.
Like Kanha, the Park is open to tourists from 1st October to 30th June, and it remains closed between
the monsoon months of July and September. Tourism is restricted to 105 sq km of the Tala Range,
which amounts to 23.4% of park area. The tourism zone is divided into three zones and each zone
has limited vehicle entry. There are two entry points: Tala & Gohri gates in two batches during morning
and afternoon between 6.30 am – 10.30 am & 2.30 pm – 5.30 pm. Around 50 vehicles are allowed
inside the Park per day.40 Only light petrol and diesel vehicles with four-wheel drive manufactured in
the last 5 years are allowed inside the park41 and have to be accompanied by a Forest Department
trained and licensed guide. Most of the vehicles are owned by local people and resort owners.
Tourism started when craze for wildlife tourism increased. Initially in the 80’s visitors were fewer than
1,000 per year. The tourist arrivals picked up slowly. During 90’s the number rose to 2,000 and in the
last year (2007) the number of tourists increased to 60,000 per year. Of these, around 20,000 are
foreigners and rest domestic. The number of tourists during holidays and weekends is very high. Now
there is restriction to the tourist entry based on the carrying capacity study42. From January 2008, the
park has started online bookings for safaris. Bandhavgarh received 55,835 domestic tourists and
13,706 foreign tourists during the year 2007.43
Accommodation is available at the Forest Rest House run by the Forest Department and at White
Tiger Forest Lodge run by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation.44 The private
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establishments are located in the areas of Tala – Ranchha (4 resorts), Tala (15 resorts), Tala –
Bijheria (9 resorts) and Gohri Gate (1 resort).45 Additional six hotels were due for completion and
commencement of operations in 2009.46
Key Tourism Issues
The local people mainly get jobs as guides and safari vehicle drivers47. There are 57 guides and
around 80-90 safari vehicles in the village owned by local villagers and resorts. The guides are selected
from surrounding villages, which are about 166 villages in a periphery of about 5 km in the buffer
zone.48 The guides earn Rs.150 per day during the tourist season and the safari vehicle drivers earn
around Rs. 2,000 per month. The tourists give them a good amount as tips.49
In the hotels and resorts, they get jobs as helpers and room boys.50 Some of them get jobs in resorts
for cleaning and grass cutting. 51 The villagers also get jobs as labourers with the Forest Department
in activities like water hole management and fire protection.52 Sometimes resorts like the Taj53 and
other resorts conduct tribal dances wherein local people are paid around Rs. 700 – 1,000 for a
performance.54
The primary occupation of local people is agriculture and in the tourism season people seek employment
in hotels and resorts. Therefore, the availability of people gets reduced in agriculture. The people work
for about of 15-20 days in the tourism season and their monthly incomes [during the tourism season]
have doubled on an average from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 4,000. This has led to availability of expendable
incomes with the local people, which they are now spending on consumption of alcohol. In the broader
socio-cultural context of the area, women more than men are engaged in labour (agriculture and other
work). However, none are employed in hotels except during the construction phase. Employment in
hotels is considered as a social taboo for women.55 Overall, most of the employment (managers, front
office staff, and waiters) is given to non-locals.56 The tourism establishments do not source materials
from the local markets.57 Hence there is very little benefit to the local economy.
Many tourism establishments use firewood as fuel for heating and cooking, and for organising camp
fires for the tourists.58 The firewood is collected from the forests by the local people who in turn sell it to
the establishments.59 As there are many tourism establishments still being built, there is a lot of demand
for mud-bricks. The kilns, where these mud-bricks are manufactured, use timber to fire the kilns and the
timber is extracted from the forests by local people.60 The construction of tourism establishment also
uses a lot of bamboo and bally (poles of young trees), which are extracted mainly from those forest
areas that are not within the national park.61 This has led to depletion in the vegetation cover of the area.
The existence of non-biodegradable solid wastes like plastic bags, covers, wrappers, bottles, tea
cups and glasses is posing a serious problem to the well being of the local environment. There have
even been deaths of domestic and wild animals due to consumption of plastic carry-bags62, which are
often disposed with left-over of food stuff inside them. The animals are attracted by the smell and
since they cannot take the food stuff of the carry bags, they consume the food stuff along with the
carry bags.
Chhattisgarh
– Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary
The Achanakmar wildlife sanctuary was constituted in the year 1975 it comprises of 557.55 sq km.63
Most of the visitors are day tourists. There is a guest house that is run and managed by the CG Forest
Department.
An information / interpretation centre has been established beside a café, where photographs of the
forests, flora & fauna have been displayed. There is a resort named Jungle Resort, owned by Dr.
Anish Deshkar from Bilaspur that is inside the wildlife sanctuary. It has three rooms with 3, 4 and 6
beds respectively and is mostly used by Bengali tourists during the peak tourist season of October to
January. Visitation statistics to Achanakmar were not available with the authorities.
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The Tourism Development Conundrum
violation of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (see figure 2). However, the Chhattisgarh Forest Department,
in a bid to promote ecotourism, has constructed a luxurious resort in a forest area adjacent to the
Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary, the case study of which has been described.
The Chhattisgarh Forest Department has completed construction of an “eco-resort” on the periphery
of the Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary (see figure 3). The land belongs to Chhattisgarh Forest
Development Corporation. Total cost of construction is Rs. 2.16 crore. The resort has 6 cottages in 2
blocks and has a capacity of 24 beds, along with a reception centre, restaurant and staff quarters. The
resort is electrified by a 10KW solar unit, installed at a cost of Rs. 15 lakhs. The reason for opting solar
as the source of electricity was out of necessity as there is no other power supply to these areas. The
resort has been handed over to the Chhattisgarh Tourism Board for running and management. The
property is being considered for privatisation.67 The Chhattisgarh Tourism Board considers privatisation
through the PPP model (public-private partnership) as a good option. The main activity of the
Chhattisgarh Tourism Board is to create infrastructure and hand them over to private players to operate.
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The private players will accrue benefits and the State will be benefitted through collection of taxes.
The Board is also of the view that the government should not run hotels rather they should be more
involved in creating infrastructure and marketing destinations.68
The Mohda Eco Resort is located in a forest and on the banks of a lake, which are common property
resources. The diversion of forest land to a non-forest purpose can be challenged under the Forest
(Conservation) Act, 1980. While this project is a clear case of diversion of forest land for commercial
purposes, what is even more serious is its transfer to private parties. The common property resources
of the forest and water-source, which could have been used by the local people, have now been
segregated for the exclusive use and enjoyment of tourists.
Andaman Islands
The main tourism locations in the Andaman Islands are Port Blair, Wandoor, Ross Island, North Bay,
Mount Harriet, Chidiyatapu, Baratang, Diglipur, Havelock, Neil, Mayabunder, Rangat, and Jollybuoy,
Red Skin in the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park. The number of tourists who visited Andaman
Islands in 2006 were 1,18,648 domestic tourists and 9,051 foreign tourists.69 There is low seasonal
variation within the year for domestic tourists but the numbers are slightly higher in the months of
November, December and January. However, for the foreign tourists, there is high intra-year seasonality
with peak season being mid October – mid March.70
Key Tourism Issues
For most domestic tourists, the reason for choosing the Andamans as a holiday destination is the
leave travel concession (LTC) provided by the central government and for foreign tourists, it is the
past experiences and recommendations of other tourists. While the beaches and the pristine natural
beauty of the Andamans is a motivating factor for both domestic and foreign tourists, the latter also
come to Andamans for snorkeling and diving.
The main social issues of tourism in the Andamans are that there is some resentment about rise in
prices of essential goods, fruits, vegetables that the local people attribute to tourism. There is dissent
over attire of foreign tourists and fears of local youth aping western culture and values, lifestyle.
Tourism has given women some opportunities to enter economic activities although the industry still
tends to be dominated by men. Presently there is not too much evidence of child labour but this could
increase especially with increase in migrant labour. There is low evidence of tourism-linked prostitution
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The Tourism Development Conundrum
currently in the Andamans, however fears exist that this is on the rise. Tourism-related crime is on the
rise in few Islands although these incidents have been sporadic and subject to varying interpretations.
Tourism related drug abuse and drug peddling is present in the Islands. By and large tourists, especially
women, perceive the Andamans as a safe destination (96.5% of domestic and 90.7% of foreign tourists
perceived the islands to be a safe destination).71
However, tourism’s impact on the indigenous tribes – the Jarawas – is a matter of serious concern as
there is continuing use of the Andaman Trunk Road despite the Supreme Court of India’s order in May
2002 to close it down in six months. Tour operators take tourists, especially domestic tourists, on
expectations of seeing ‘primitive, naked tribes’.72 The main concern is that the Jarawas do not have
immunity against many diseases like measles. Any contact with other people would mean increasing
their vulnerability to such diseases. For the Jarawa, each disease is an epidemic to which many have
lost their lives.
Tourism currently does not seem to play a significant role in terms of the Gross State Domestic
Product (GSDP) and employment, contrary to popular belief and policy positioning. Despite significant
increase in tourist arrivals over last 2 decades, contribution of sector to GSDP has stagnated at 8%
due to low local expenditure by tourists. Revenue generation from tourism is low and accounts for
only 1.4% of total revenue receipts. Employment in the tourism sector is less than 1.5% of total main
workforce of the Islands and a substantial percent of the workforce does not get secure employment
in tourism. The tendency is to recruit skilled labour from Port Blair or mainland. The local workforce
employed is only in low-skill and seasonal kind of jobs. There is evidence of local entrepreneurship in
tourism – 50% of accommodation units within Port Blair and in other Islands are owned by locals.
Tourism has created some jobs in the ancillary industry - taxi, auto drivers, shop owners, guides, but
these are of a seasonal nature.73
But what are more alarming are the environmental impacts of tourism in the Andamans. There is
already a strain of other development activities and population pressure on natural resources of
Andamans and its biodiversity. Tourism, which is largely unregulated and unplanned, has led to
increased pressure on fresh water availability. The tourism infrastructure is inconsistent with the
ecological setting and is very energy intensive. There is a serious problem of waste disposal and
Figure 4: One of the Many Solid Waste Dumping Sites in Havelock Island,
Andaman Islands (Note the High Content of Non-biodegradable
Solid Wastes Like Plastic Bags, Covers, Wrappers and Bottles)
13
Working Paper Series 2009–2010
pollution from solid wastes: the sewage is disposed directly into the sea and the solid wastes are
allowed to accumulate, then burnt (see figure 4). Land based development activities and tourist activities
like snorkeling have had an impact on the coral reefs. The former has led to sedimentation that has
choked the corals (as they are filter feeders) and the latter due to physical damage. Important regulations
like the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 1991 and environmental impact assessments have not
been implemented and tourism has violated them consistently. There has also been poor
implementation of Orders of the Supreme Court based on the Shekhar Singh Commission Report.
These impacts are critical to be taken note of seriously in the context of the impacts from climate
change wherein Islands are the most vulnerable. 74
14
The Tourism Development Conundrum
The development of tourism establishments around Protected Areas hinders the use of surrounding areas
and also blocks the movement of animals to other forest or protected areas through the corridors.77 The
animals are then forced to enter human habitations thereby increasing the possibility of human-animal
conflicts. These conflicts have lead to damage and loss of property as well as human and animal lives.
The other problems are of habitat loss and fragmentation due to infrastructure developments like
constructions of roads.78 The location and numbers of resorts crowding on the periphery of the Park
has become such a severe problem in Corbett that the local people are considering filing a Public
Interest Litigation on this issue.79
Disregard for Provisions of the Constitution (Seventy Third) Amendment Act, 1992
The Constitution (Seventy Third) Amendment Act, 1992 (also known as the 73rd Amendment) requires
a three tier system of Panchayati Raj Institutions to be constituted for decentralisation and devolution
of powers from the Centre to the grassroots in order to enable these bodies to function as institutions
of local self government. The 73rd Amendment further requires the Legislatures of all Indian States to
delegate decision making powers on issues specified under Schedule XI of the Indian Constitution to
the Panchayats to enable them to plan and implement schemes for their social and economic
development on, among others, land improvement, land reforms and maintenance of community
assets80. The panchayats have also been given the powers as institutions of local self government to
decide on the kind of development that they would like in their areas of jurisdiction. They have also
been empowered to impose taxes, tolls and duties through a law by the state legislature.
The panchayats are not consulted when tourism projects or plans are prepared by the governments,
private investors or companies. The panchayats get to know about the project or plans at the
implementation stage only after all clearances have been given by various other departments. Whereas
clearances on power, water supply and sewage are given by the electricity department and public
works department respectively, the issue of land allocation and conversion if any is done at the District
Collector’s level and the panchayats have no say in land matters. The role of the panchayats is then
reduced to a formality81 when a letter of intent is written to the panchayats for specifying purpose of
land-use82 and a ‘No Objection Certificate’ is requested from the panchayats. At this stage, the
panchayats do not refuse because clearances have already been given by other departments.
“There is no dialogue with local panchayats and departments take decisions unilaterally on any
kind of developmental activity. No body is informed of any projects that they [government or
industry] make … When the tourist resort [ecotourism venture of the Chhattisgarh Forest
Department] was inaugurated by the Chief Minister on 26 July 2008, there were no discussions
with the local people; in fact the local people were prevented from meeting the CM. At least the
main people of the village could have been invited but even that was not done. Ironically the
theme of the inauguration programme was ‘handing over to people’ and the people were not
invited. The CM had come with nearly 20 other cabinet ministers. It would have been appropriate
if they had visited a few villages and inquired about their conditions … There are many tourism
resorts that have come up on the periphery [of the Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary] and the
permission is given by the Chhattisgarh Forest Department. [That is because] The land is
owned by government”.
- Mr. Niranjan, Panchayat Pradhan, Loridkhar Village, Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary,
Chhattisgarh83.
“The role of the panchayats is a formality … With respect to land, all matters are done at the
Registrar’s level and there is no role for the panchayats”.
- Mr. Rajesh Singh, Sarpanch, Tala Village Panchayat, Bandhavgarh, Madhya Pradesh84.
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
“I am not looking at large scale tourism and do not want cement construction and very big
resorts coming into Neil. The Panchayat needs to be careful that their land is not sold out to
industrialists from outside. The Panchayat is helpless regarding plans to develop tourism in the
Island. There are not enough funds to maintain cleanliness on the beaches. The Administration
has to provide the funds or take over maintenance”
- Ram Krishna Biswas, Pradhan, Neil Island, Andaman & Nicobar Islands85
The case of Kanha National Park is of special relevance to the issue of implementing the 73rd
Amendment because it falls in the category Schedule V Areas. Article 244 of the Constitution of India
through its Schedule V provides protection to the indigenous peoples living in the Scheduled Areas
and gives them the right to self rule. It disallows the transfer of indigenous peoples’ lands to non-
indigenous peoples. The 73rd Amendment is applicable in Schedule V Areas through the Panchayat
Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 to improve the system of participatory governance
in the Scheduled Areas. The Constitution of India through the Schedule V along with the Panchayat
(Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) re-enforces the rights of the indigenous peoples to
territorial integrity and to decide on their own path of development. Within a year of passing of this
Act, i.e. by 24 December 1997, all the states with Scheduled Areas were to amend their existing
Panchayati Raj Acts and incorporate the PESA provisions. The PESA Act in recognition of the traditional
and customary laws of the tribal areas mandates the gram sabhas to:86
O Approve the village’s plans & projects for social and economic development before they are
implemented by the Gram Panchayat.
O Identify beneficiaries for poverty alleviation programmes.
O Give certification for utilization of funds by the panchayat for the mandated activities, thus making
the gram sabha a powerful instrument in socio economic development of the tribals.
O The gram sabha or panchayat at the appropriate level has to be consulted before any land acquisition
is done for development projects in Scheduled Areas or before rehabilitation of project affected
families is undertaken.
Source: www.indiabiodiversity.org
16
The Tourism Development Conundrum
The Kanha National Park is spread over two tehsils namely Bichhiya Tehsil in Mandla District and
Baihar Tehsil in Balaghat District (see figure 5). The entire district of Mandla and Baihar Tehsil are under
Schedule V status. Tourism development in and around Kanha National Park is a case that exemplifies
the violation of the Constitutional provisions in Schedule V Areas. What has been observed in the case
of Kanha National Park is a growing number of private, tourism establishments that are added every
year. Both at the Khatia gate and Mukki gate, there are nearly 70 tourism establishments and distributed
roughly as: 40 near the former and 30 near the latter. Land is continuously being sold locally and is being
bought over by investors to build tourism establishments like hotels, resorts and lodges.
The figure above shows an advertisement for sale of land claiming it is in a general category (meaning
it is not in a Schedule V Area). However, a Central Government Order87 issued by the Ministry of Law
and Justice88 clearly states that the whole of Mandla District and Baihar Tehsil in Balaghat District are
Scheduled V Areas. Therefore, the claim that the land on sale is general category or non-Schedule V
land is false. It is likely that most land transactions relating to tourism establishments around Kanha
National Park are unconstitutional and illegal. But this continues quite brazenly.
Additionally, the Chhattisgarh Government is providing incentives to investors for establishment and
expansion of tourism units and infrastructure for economic development and employment generation. In
this Incentives Scheme the government is also inviting tourism units to be established in Schedule V
Areas namely Kanker, Dantewara, Koria, Surguja and Jaspur Districts. Under this scheme tourism
projects will be given “quick approval” by a High Level Committee who will “remove all obstacles to
tourism initiatives”. 89 The Chhattisgarh Government is providing 100% tax exemption for establishment
of tourism units in Schedule V Areas. Though land transfer is not allowed, the Chhattisgarh Tourism
Board offers a 50% exemption on land premium to investors for new tourism projects as well as simplifying
the process of land allocation to investors, which has been diverted for tourism; creation of land banks
by identification of Nazul land90 which will be transferred to the tourism department for leasing it out to
developers for 33 years. Similarly tourism infrastructure projects are being encouraged into Scheduled
Areas by giving them a 15% subsidy on capital investment with a cap of Rs. 20 lakhs.91 The Tribal
Advisory Councils that represent interests of the resident tribal population has no role in tourism
development in their areas. None of these are permissible in Scheduled Areas and the spirit of privileging
tribal rights and autonomy – which is the basis on which the state was formed – seems to have been
discarded quite summarily by those who are supposed to protect and ensure these very rights!
5. Conclusion
Tourism is being actively pursued by the state governments and tourism industry. The natural areas
with their aesthetically appealing landscapes and attractions such as wildlife are the important products
for tourism. This form of nature based tourism is often used interchangeably with attractive terms
such as ecotourism and wildlife tourism.
Ecotourism is presented and positioned as leading to conservation and benefits to local people. In
reality however the operating paradigm is to make it private investment led and through privatisation
of resources. The tourism policies of Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andaman
Islands are examples of this kind of ecotourism development.
Tourism in Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andaman Islands has disregarded
Constitutional provisions. It has disregarded the rights of the panchayats by keeping them out of
decision making spaces and taking control over resources such as land thereby contravening the 73rd
Constitutional Amendment. It has also usurped common property resources that are important for the
sustenance and livelihoods of indigenous and local communities. Therefore its claims of conserving
the environment and benefitting indigenous and local communities are hollow and have not been met.
Moreover, tourism is currently being pushed into areas where indigenous and local communities have
been struggling for basic rights such as land, autonomy and access to resources on which their
livelihoods are dependent. In places like Kanha, tourism development has taken place in contravention
to the Constitutional provisions of Schedule Areas.
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
While the claims of tourism to conserve environment and benefit local people have not materialised,
it continues to be pushed into newer areas on hollow promise and claim of its immense potential to
create employment and consequently alleviate poverty. However the costs of tourism on local
resources, livelihoods, environment, culture, women and children are not taken into account. In the
absence of local participation and decision making over tourism projects and the governments’
apathy to local grievances and development needs, an atmosphere of distrust, fear and conflict has
begun to take place. Tourism is thus turning out to be like any other activity that gives benefits to a
few at the cost of many.
Given its poor record, there is no justification for governments to privilege the promotion of tourism
over peoples’ rights. The Constitutional provisions of the 73rd Amendment, Schedule V Areas and
PESA Act need to be fully implemented and enforced while planning tourism development in
these areas.
Endnotes
1
Scheduled Areas mean “… such areas as the President may by order declare to be scheduled areas”. Scheduled Areas
have a predominantly tribal population and provide autonomy to the tribal areas. Central and State laws are not automatically
applicable to the Schedule Areas. With respect to land in these areas, the Constitution lays down in Article 244(1) Part B
Section 5 (2) that the governor has the power to make regulations that may prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or
among members of the Scheduled Tribes to non-tribals, and also regulate allotment of land to members of the Scheduled
Tribes.
2
Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, http://www.gmvnl.com/newgmvn/facts/index.aspx data retrieved April 2009.
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttarakhand
4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttarakhand
5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttarakhand
6
Rawat, 1999, “The People of Uttarakhand”, http://uttarakhand.prayaga.org/info4.html data retrieved April 2009.
7
http://www.mpinfo.org/mpinfonew/english/factfile/mp.asp data retrieved April 2009.
8
Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, http://mpforest.org//forest.html data retrieved April 2009.
9
Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, http://mpforest.org//wildlife.html data retrieved April 2009.
10
Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, http://www.mptourism.com/tourpol.html data retrieved April 2009.
11
http://www.trdi.mp.gov.in/statistics.asp data retrieved April 2009.
12
Government of Madhya Pradesh, http://www.mp.gov.in/tribal/Tri.htm data retrieved April 2009.
13
Chhattisgarh Forest Department, http://cgforest.nic.in/about_chhattisgarh.htm data retrieved April 2009.
14
Chhattisgarh Forest Department, http://cgforest.nic.in/forestresources.htm data retrieved April 2009.
15
Chhattisgarh Forest Department, http://cgforest.nic.in/livingwithwildlife.htm data retrieved April 2009.
16
Government of Chhattisgarh, http://www.chhattisgarh.gov.in/tourism/tourism1.htm data retrieved April 2009.
17
Government of Chhattisgarh,http://www.chhattisgarh.gov.in/profile/corigin.htm#seed data retrieved April 2009.
18
Andaman & Nicobar Islands Administration, http://www.and.nic.in/Know%20Andaman/Intro1.htm data retrieved April 2009.
19
EQUATIONS et al, 2008, p 16.
20
EQUATIONS et al, 2008, p 18.
21
EQUATIONS et al, 2008, p 21-22.
22
Stated by a participant from the Baiga tribe at a consultation “Tourism Development in Chhattisgarh: Threats and Challenges”
on 25-26 January 2007, organised by Nadi Ghati Morcha and EQUATIONS.
23
http://www.corbettnationalpark.in/page_ctr_revealed.htm data retrieved April 2009.
24
Project Tiger – Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, http://projecttiger.nic.in/corbett.htm data retrieved
April 2009.
25
http://www.corbettnationalpark.in/page_visit_ctr.htm data retrieved April 2009.
26
http://www.corbettnationalpark.in/page_visit_ctr.htm data retrieved April 2009.
27
Information shared by participants at a Consultation on Tourism Issues in Uttarakhand organised by EQUATIONS at
Ramanagar on 8 February 2009.
28
http://www.corbettnationalpark.in/page_visit_ctr.htm data retrieved April 2009.
29
Uttarakhand Forest Department, 2007, Uttarakhand Forest Statistics, Government of Uttarakhand, Dehradun, p 83.
18
The Tourism Development Conundrum
30
Tiwari, P. C. & Joshi, Bhagwati (Eds.), 1997, “Wildlife in the Himalayan Foothills: Conservation and Management”, Indus
Publishing Company, p 309.
31
Ibid, p 311.
32
1 bigha = 43,200 sq ft, which is a little less than an acre (1 acre = 43,560 sq ft); therefore 1 bigha = 4,017.6 sq m (@ 1 sq
ft = 0.093 sq m).
33
Sinha, N, Feb 2009, “Tiger declared maneater in Corbett, forest dept blames tourist pressure”, Indian Express, New Delhi
(http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tiger-declared-maneater-in-corbett-forest-dept-blames-tourist-pressur.../420907) data
retrieved April 2009.
34
Kaur, R, 2009, “Unlikely Maneaters” Down to Earth, Centre for Science & Environment, Delhi.
35
Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, http://mpforest.org/Intranet/kanha/index.html data retrieved April 2009.
36
Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, http://mpforest.org/Intranet/kanha/index.html data retrieved April 2009.
37
Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, http://mpforest.org/Intranet/kanha/index.html data retrieved April 2009.
38
Tourist arrivals statistics obtained from MPTDC.
39
Project Tiger – Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, http://projecttiger.nic.in/bandhavgarh.htm data
retrieved April 2009.
40
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Asim Srivastav, Field Director, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, at Tala on 30 January 2008.
41
Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, http://mpforest.org/bandhavgarh.html#BANDHAVGARH data retrieved April 2009.
42
The Carrying Capacity that the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has adopted is limited only to the number of safari
vehicles that are allowed inside the Protected Areas. The concept does not apply to any other tourism activity like number
of establishments around the Protected Area. Carrying Capacity has been calculated based on the principle:
Physical Carrying Capacity = No. of persons/unit area which is equivalent to No. of vehicles/unit length
Calculation of number of vehicles have been done based on the following conditions:
1. At least there should be a gap of 500m between two vehicles. ie. Within 1 km, there can be 2 vehicles.
2. Roads prone to moderate erosion (dusty), reduce the number such that one vehicle is allowed within 1 km.
3. Roads prone to heavy erosion, (slopes), reduce the number such that one vehicle is allowed within 2 km.
4. In sensitive areas (breeding period/endangered species), one vehicle will be allowed per km.
5. Management efficiency of the park officials: 40%.
E.g.: Let us take total length of the road to be 125 km.
As per condition 1, total vehicles allowed 125x 2 = 250 nos.
Roads prone to moderate erosion be 20 km.
Applying condition 2, no. of vehicles allowed = 20x1 = 20 nos.; reduction = (20x2) -20 = 20 nos.
Roads prone to heavy erosion be 10 km.
Applying condition 3, no. of vehicles allowed = 10x1/2 = 5 nos.; reduction = (10x2) – 5 = 15 nos.
Roads within sensitive habitat be 50 km.
Vehicles allowed = 50 nos.
Total reduction = (50x2) – 50 = 50 nos.
Total vehicles allowed in 125 km stretch after reductions = 250 – 20 – 15 – 50 = 165.
Efficiency of the forest staff = 40%.
Therefore total number of vehicles that can be allowed = 165x40/100 = 66 nos.
Source: Pers. Comm. with Dr. P. B. Gangaopadhyay, Chief Wild Life Warden, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, on
1 February 2008.
43
Tourist arrivals statistics obtained from MPTDC.
44
Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, http://mpforest.org/bandhavgarh.html data retrieved April 2009.
45
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Satyendra Tiwari, Skays Camp, Tala on 19 September 2008.
46
Pers. Comm. with Mr. K L Patel, Manager, White Tiger Forest Lodge, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation,
on 31 January 2008.
47
The most popular safari vehicles are the Maruti – Suzuki manufactured Gypsy model, which is a four wheel drive SUV.
48
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Asim Srivastav, Field Director, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, at Tala on 30 January 2008.
49
Pers. Comm. with Dr. Deepak Patel, Jungle Tours & Travels at Tala on 31 January 2008.
50
Pers. Comm. with Mr. K L Patel, Manager, White Tiger Forest Lodge, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation,
on 31 January 2008.
51
Pers. Comm. with Dr. Deepak Patel, Jungle Tours & Travels at Tala on 31 January 2008.
52
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Asim Srivastav, Field Director, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, at Tala on 30 January 2008.
53
The property is Mahua Kothi and is a joint venture between Taj Hotels Resort and Palaces and &Beyond.
19
Working Paper Series 2009–2010
54
Pers. Comm. with Dr. Deepak Patel, Jungle Tours & Travels at Tala on 31 January 2008.
55
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Rajesh Singh, Sarpanch, Tala Gram Panchayat on 18 September 2008.
56
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Satyendra Tiwari, Skays Camp, Tala on 19 September 2008.
57
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Rajesh Singh, Sarpanch, Tala Gram Panchayat on 18 September 2008.
58
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Satyendra Tiwari, Skays Camp, Tala on 19 September 2008.
59
Pers. Comm. with Mr. K L Patel, Manager, White Tiger Forest Lodge, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation,
on 31 January 2008.
60
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Satyendra Tiwari, Skays Camp, Tala on 19 September 2008.
61
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Satyendra Tiwari, Skays Camp, Tala on 19 September 2008.
62
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Rajesh Singh, Sarpanch, Tala Gram Panchayat on 18 September 2008.
63
Chhattisgarh Forest Department, http://cgforest.nic.in/nature_tourism.htm data retrieved April 2009.
64
Chhattisgarh Forest Department, http://cgforest.nic.in/nature_tourism.htm data retrieved April 2009.
65
Pers. Comm. with Mr. R. K. Sinha, RFO Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary, on 13 September 2008.
66
Pers. Comm. with Mr. R. K. Sinha, RFO Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary, on 13 September 2008.
67
Information given by Chhattisgarh Forest Department staff at the site on 13 September 2008.
68
Interview with Managing Director (Marketing), Chhattisgarh Tourism Board, Raipur on 12 September 2008.
69
Department of Information, Publicity and Tourism, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Administration, 2006.
70
EQUATIONS et al, 2008.
71
EQUATIONS et al, 2008.
72
EQUATIONS et al, 2008.
73
EQUATIONS et al, 2008.
74
EQUATIONS et al, 2008.
75
Government of India, 2005, “Joining the Dots”- Report of the Tiger Task Force, Ministry of Environment & Forests, New
Delhi, p 134.
76
Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation, “Investment Opportunities In Tourism Sector of Madhya
Pradesh”, 1998-2007, http://www.mptourism.com/MPTPDF.pdf, retrieved on March 2009.
77
Pers. Comm. with Dr. H. S. Pabla, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Madhya Pradesh Forest
Department, on 8 October 2008.
78
Pers. Comm. with Dr. H. S. Pabla, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Madhya Pradesh Forest
Department, on 8 October 2008.
79
Shared by participants at a Consultation on Tourism Issues in Uttarakhand organised by EQUATIONS at Ramanagar on
8 February 2009.
80
Land improvement, implementation of land reforms, land consolidation and soil conservation (point no. 2 of the XI Schedule
of the Constitution of India).The panchayats also have right to take decision on social forestry, farm forestry and minor
forest produce; fuel and fodder; construction of roads, culverts, bridges, ferries, waterways and other means of
communication in the panchayat.
81
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Rajesh Singh, Sarpanch, Tala Gram Panchayat on 18 September 2008.
82
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Satyendra Tiwari, Skays Camp, Tala on 19 September 2008.
83
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Niranjan, Panchayat Pradhan, Loridkhar Village on 13 September 2008.
84
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Rajesh Singh, Sarpanch, Tala Gram Panchayat on 18 September 2008.
85
Pers. Comm. with Mr. Ram Krishna Biswas, Pradhan, Neil Island, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, July 2007.
86
Legal aid system on local governance, 2004, http://www.laslg.org data retrieved March 2009.
87
No. C.O.192: The Scheduled Areas (States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh) Order, 2003 dated New
Delhi, the 29th February, 2003.
88
(Legislative Department) Notification G.S.R. 114 (E), Tribal Research and Development Institute, http://www.trdi.mp.gov.in/
tribalZone.asp data retrieved March 2009.
89
http://www.chhattisgarhtourism.net/download/Incentive%20Scheme%202006.pdf, data retrieved March 2009.
90
Nazul land is the land which is given on lease by the municipal authorities to private persons for non-agricultural purposes.
This type of land being barren, no agricultural activity is possible on it. http://ncm.nic.in/major_iniative.html
91
http://www.chhattisgarhtourism.net/download/Incentive%20Scheme%202006.pdf, data retrieved March 2009.
20
Women Speak!
Women’s Engagement with Community Based and
Nature Based Tourism
July 2009
Tourism has always had a link with women. Mass tourism claims that it employs more women than
men and women are often seen as the face of tourism, quite literally, as they appear in travel
brochures as the ubiquitous image of warmth, welcome and hospitality.
When understanding tourism growth in natural resource rich areas we have been particularly interested
in understanding how the growth of tourism engaged, impacted, helped or hindered women. To what
extent did tourism actually provide opportunities for empowerment? To what extent did it change
stereotypes and gender injustices? Were women able to break the shackles of religious or social
prescriptions related to their role and relative power by engaging in tourism as compared to more
traditional roles and settings? What was the nature of women’s participation in tourism? To what
extent did they influence decision making and the nature of tourism? Did they gain – economically,
socially, and politically? Have they been able to challenge patriarchal structures and demand equal
participation and benefits from tourism? How did tourism impact their lives? What are their concerns
& dilemmas and in what ways have they engaged or wish to engage with tourism?
To explore these questions, we have attempted to gather together and amplify the voices of women in
different spaces which we heard in the course of our interactions with communities engaging with tourism.
To do this we present case studies of nature based (and in most cases community based) tourism and
examined it through a gendered lens. The observations and insights are derived from more general
contexts and were not specific to research addressing gender issues.
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
and Eco Tourism Declaration to guide its future. In 2003, the Indian government made a major revision
to the park rules that had strictly governed the Nanda Devi protected area for over twenty years. A
partial reopening began allowing 500 visitors to enter a small segment of the park’s core zone every
year, although the peak itself would remain off limits.”
MSI was formerly inaugurated in 2006 in the vicinity of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. It is
located both in the context of a wider social and environmental struggle. A 2006 Inaugural Women’s
Trek marked their first foray into the tourism business, attempting the challenging task of establishing
a community-owned operation in keeping with its aspirations for a future without human exploitation
and environmental degradation3.”
Women’s participation in the tourism initiative of MSI is largely prescribed by social norms - the roles
that women are allowed to participate in are decided by the community first and then their family. Therefore
women’s participation in tourism is not only gendered but also decided primarily by the family and
community and this is accepted by women. The participation of girls in tourism is at a very nascent stage
in Lata village, and it is too early to say if this will enhance women’s participation in decision making
within the family and the community in the future. Though girls are being trained in mountaineering it has
not meant that families are sending their daughters on regular expeditions. The family and community
has clearly different norms about what ways the daughters participate in tourism as compared to the
freer hand that sons have to decide if they would like to be involved in the tourism project of the MSI.
Apart from their traditional roles of carers within the family and thus caring for the visitors, this community
based initiative also relies on women’s traditional skills in carpet weaving. Thus traditional knowledge
and skills are the basis for including women into the tourism loop. Most tourism initiatives often end up
employing women in areas where they need least additional training and can leverage on socially
prescribed or traditional knowledge and skills such as care giving. In the MSI case, on the contrary
though women are not primarily involved in looking after the guests since the youth trained by the MSI
cater to the tourists, the payment for using the homestays by tourists is handed over to the landlady
(i.e the women). With a range of Rs. 150- 250 per day in Tolma and Lata respectively going to women
directly it is a positive move that acknowledges their contribution (for the use of the place as well as
the labour in keeping it clean and providing bedding for tourists). To some extent it also recognises
the time intensive nature of women’s work who being involved in agricultural activities are less likely
to have the time to engage with tourists.
Figure 1: Bhotiya Women Weaving Mats & Carpets, Lata Village, Uttarakhand
22
Women Speak!
Women are also involved in the production of souvenirs during the winter months (Figure 1). They
produce smaller hand woven mats for yoga or meditation purposes. Tourism provides a market for
their produce and thus an alternate income particularly to those households that are not providing
homestays or involved in any other ways in tourism. It is an attempt to provide tourists with local
souvenirs; relying on their traditional knowledge of weaving and knitting and by enhancing their skills
through the introduction of vegetable dyes.
The MSI being community based has a stronger element of community support when compared to
many other tourism initiatives that are introduced without much local participation.
The greater participation of men in tourism activities such as trekking and mountaineering which
includes working as instructors, search and rescue volunteers, cooks and guide for tourists groups
has also meant a diversion of responsibilities in agriculture work earlier handled by men to women.
The women are loaded with the usual household responsibilities and in addition because the men are
away the entire load of caring for children, collection of fuel wood, fodder and water take them in the
hilly terrain.
Further more, the peak harvesting season is also the main tourism season and this has resulted in
men being away for tourism linked activities leaving the women to shoulder a greater (physical) workload
at this time. It is interesting that this incursion of women into men’s traditional (gendered) areas is not
objected to by the community, but they are more unwilling to “allow” the women to engage in activity
which is more externally-oriented.
Sunil Kainthola who coordinates MSI in Dehradun shared a story of one of the MSI youth Raju whose
mother told him in a “friendly” manner: “You have taken my husband with you, you have also taken
away my two sons into tourism. Now it will rain any moment. Our grain will get spoilt unless we
harvest it. Then what will we eat? There is no one to work with me – so now you come with me to the
village and work with me.”
Thus women’s additional load directly and indirectly because of tourism ends up fetching them very
little direct economic benefit – in the form of additional earnings– but loads them with additional work
– all of which is neither measured, valued nor compensated for in economic terms.
From another perspective given the exploitative nature of tourism with respect to the commodification
of women and abuse, the community at Lata has taken into account the risks that women are likely to
face when tourism makes inroads into their spaces. The community (both men and women) who
decide the norms then become the buffer to decide which roles it would like to see its women in, given
their knowledge and skills. The Bhotiya women were at the leadership of the Chipko movement in
asserting their rights to natural resources. Whether this assertion has translated to their choice of
ways of income generation is not very clear or evident yet. Some families have allowed the daughters
to be trained in mountaineering and related courses but tourism led business activities is new for the
communities and may also explains the absence of women in business activities.
With the MSI core competence and product being adventure tourism in the Himalayas the organisation
has greater involvement of boys and less of girls. In certain areas like Uttarakashi women like Bachendri
Pal4 are role models for women taking up training in mountaineering and instructorship. While girls
are being encouraged to train in becoming instructors it is a physically demanding role and this aspect
seems to draw more boys. Beginning with training provided by the forest department in 2004 and that
provided by MSI in 2006, girls have gone on three treks since 2006 with exclusive women’s groups as
well as in mixed groups (of boys and girls) with tourists.
MSI has also taken a firm stand on guiding the community about the roles where women may have
opportunity but increased vulnerability to exploitation by tourists. It has created a space for discussing
about what roles women would be comfortable in taking up rather than just going by the demand of
the tourism industry which can be exploitative when unchecked. The opportunity to train girls in
mountaineering was a step forward, but the decision was that girls would accompany women only
23
Working Paper Series 2009–2010
groups. This was seen as a via media between the complexity of developing spaces for women to
participate in tourism, recognising the risks in terms of sexual harassment they may face from male
tourists while accompanying them on treks and balancing this risk, with the desire to build their capacity
for leadership and management roles that have not been socially encouraged so far. In the future MSI
foresees the participation of women in souvenirs, exclusive as well as mixed trekking groups, as
instructors after they complete their Method of Instruction and in managerial roles.
24
Women Speak!
together as members of a self-help group to start an eatery in Havelock Island in December 2006.
They are in contact with the guides in Port Blair who refer tourists to their eatery. They make a profit
of Rs 12,000 a month which is shared between the three of them. The usual problems of the island,
such as acute shortage of water and rising prices of vegetables need to be dealt with, but they are
happy with the change in their lives that tourism has brought in.
However, the tale is not all good for other women on Havelock Island. Nirmala Rao is a widow who
works as a daily wage worker. For her, tourism is an added burden to her daily problems. Because of
increased tourism activity she finds the prices of travelling by autorickshaw (a three wheeler) have
risen tremendously. During the peak tourist season boat tickets to Port Blair are hard to come by.
Concerns are voiced by women about rising land prices and the disillusionment of the youth. Arathi
Roy, a housewife of Havelock says, “The government has brought us here (as settlers). Now they are
allowing foreigners to get land here. In the future the government may sell out on us”. She also fears
that children and youth will imitate foreigners in behavior and mode of dress. The level of education of
the youth tends to be low. While tourism is the only sector on the Islands that increases opportunities,
by opening up jobs like taxi driving and guides, she also raises an alarm by drawing attention towards
the increasing habit of drinking alcohol, with easy availability in the Islands. “Prostitution could be a
serious problem in the future”, she fears.
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Their norms were not only about women and clearly were about preserving strongly held cultural
norms – many of which were also deeply patriarchal. They also felt that tourists should not be scantily
dressed in shorts. Consuming alcohol was forbidden in their society and so they didn’t want the
visitors to come and have alcohol and expose their younger generation to this habit11.
While Hodka has many elements of a successful foray into tourism women who were initially a part of
the Hodka Paryatan Samiti left this Village Tourism Committee (VTC) - due to social taboos and
pressures resulting in the management of the Shaam-e-Sarhad resort being completely male. There
is an institutional framework within the ETP that seeks to address gender issues by challenging
existing power structures, but the social structures proved too hard to break through. The strong
resistance by the men towards the participation of women in any of the decision making forums in
Hodka was evident. Although a group of women are involved in the plastering and designing on the
walls of the resort, women, largely have been denied access to any decision making body.
In Raghurajpur, near Puri-Orissa, a temple and crafts village, the Raghurajpur Heritage & Tourism
Committee (RHTC – village tourism committee) is completely devoid of women. When the sub-
committees were formed, women were not even consulted. They were conspicuously absent in all the
sub committees except for one, the sanitation committee! Despite the presence of a women’s group in
the village it is not represented in the RHTC.
Similarly at Lachen in Sikkim there was a lack of participation of women in decision making structures
and process related to the project. This is also due to the fact that under the Dzumsa (form of local
self governing body) structure the scope for participation and decision making of women is generally
low. In contrast, in Chitrakote, Chhattisgarh, tribal dominated area women have a leadership role to
play in the implementation of the ETP. Here there was a special effort by the implementing agency
to build capacity, empower women and to mobilise their participation in the functioning of the Village
Tourism Committee (Figure 2).
Often women’s contribution to family income is seen as marginal and their work as unskilled. Thus
even in tourism though women are involved in skilled tasks like craft production, they continue to be
seen as unskilled while men’s contribution is considered skilled owing to the gendered perception of
men as bread winners of the family. In Raghurajpur for instance women contribute equally in the
26
Women Speak!
production of the crafts like Pattachitra (traditional Orissa paintings on palm leaves) which is the main
and often only source of livelihood to many in the village (Figure 3). The women do all the labour
intensive ground work but the men are perceived to have the skills to do the finer aspects of the craft.
In reality the women are no less creative in their artistic excellence, but this is not acknowledged.
Women are not a homogenous group within a community. Access to tourism activities and benefits is
defined also by the social hierarchy of caste (which is invariably linked to class). Caste and class act
as gatekeepers allowing certain sections of women within community to participate while excluding
others. e.g in Naggar (Himachal Pradesh), the VTC’s bias towards upper caste women does not go
unnoticed. When the community was asked to choose three members from each ward, they have
invariably chosen women from the more affluent upper caste families believing they would be in a
better position to represent and understand the implementation of the project. However decisions by
upper caste women do not necessarily take into account the voices or interests of lower caste women
and often caste affiliations play a stronger role than the sympathy for common concerns as women.
An examination of the norms for membership in the Village Tourism Committees that have been
evolved by the communities often tilts the balance in favour of certain dominant communities over
marginalized sections. Since backward castes themselves are not allowed easy access to decision
making positions within the VTCs by upper castes even within these tourism committees the situation
is similar in the case of women from backward castes.
In Chitrakote a major conflict emerged on the issue of the construction of shops near the waterfall site.
The objective was to sell handicrafts and food to the tourists and thereby promote the products of the
craftsmen and women trained under the project and local cuisine also promoted under it. The Panchayat
and the local administration jointly decided to provide 5 acres of government land out of an 11-acre
plot where the annual local festival takes place. It also started building shops near the waterfall on the
government land. Some vested interest groups came together and demolished the nearly completed
beautiful structures. To date no legal or police action has been taken against the perpetrators and they
have not been brought to book.
The very nature of tourism is that it requires infrastructure skills, capital and linkages to engage
successfully – and in the limited space available women from lower and backward caste have a
double handicap of gender and caste and are usually out of the reckoning. Unless carefully planned
27
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and designed it seems very unlikely particularly in rural setting in India that social and gender inequities
can be addressed in any significant way through tourism projects.
Conclusion
These initial case studies point to the opportunities that women have in carefully designed tourism
projects to carve out more meaningful roles and wield greater influence. But much depends on the
context of socio-cultural norms of patriarchy and caste to determine the extent to which they can
benefit. The need to address these issues through systematic awareness building of tourism policy
makers, planners and implementers, as well as local communities is critical.
Endnotes
1
EQUATIONS field notes to Uttarakhand – villages Lata and Tolma, September 2008.
2
In the 1970s, an organized resistance to the destruction of forests spread throughout India and came to be known as the
Chipko movement. The name of the movement comes from the word ‘embrace’, as the villagers hugged the trees, and
prevented the contractors’ from felling them. The first Chipko action took place spontaneously in April 1973 in the village
of Mandal in the upper Alakananda valley and over the next five years spread to many districts of the Himalayas in Uttar
Pradesh. It was sparked off by the government’s decision to allot a plot of forest area in the Alaknanda valley to a sports
goods company. This angered the villagers because their similar demand to use wood for making agricultural tools had
been earlier denied. With encouragement from a local NGO, Dasoli Gram Swarajya Sangh, under the leadership of an
activist, Chandi Prasad Bhatt and women of the area, went into the forest and formed a circle around the trees preventing
the men from cutting them down. In March 1974, women from Lata, Reni and other nearby villages led by the elderly
Gaura Devi protested against men that had come to clear cut local forests. The Chipko protests in Uttar Pradesh achieved
a major victory in 1980 with a 15-year ban on green felling in the Himalayan forests of that state by the order of Mrs Indira
Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. Since then, the movement has spread to many states in the country. (http://
healthy-india.org/saveearth6.asp).
3
Rajiv Rawat (2008). The Mountain Shepherds Initiative: Evolving a New Model of Community-Owned Ecotourism In
Redefining Tourism – Experiences and Insights from Rural Tourism Projects in India, UNDP, New Delhi.
4
Bachendri Pal was the first Indian woman on top of Everest in 1984. She was born in 1954, in a village named Nakuri in
Garhwal. She shared with her parents her desire to become a professional mountaineer. The family was “devastated,” as
for them, her relatives and local people, the most suitable job for a woman was teaching, not mountaineering. However,
Bachendri did not budge from her determination. She joined the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM). She was declared
the best student and was considered as “Everest material”. She currently runs a training camp at Tata Steel Adventure
Foundation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachendri_Pal).
5
EQUATIONS, INTACH Andamans & Nicobar Islands Chapter, Society for Andamans & Nicobar Ecology, Kalpavriksh,
Jamshedji Tata Centre for Disaster Management – TISS, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Action Aid International India
(2008) “Rethink Tourism in the Andamans: Towards Building a Base for Sustainable Tourism”, Bangalore, India.
6
Ibid, pg 126.
7
EQUATIONS (September 2008), Review Report on Sustainability In Tourism: A Rural Tourism Model, UNDP, New Delhi
8
Ibid pg 3.
9
Ibid pg 49-62.
10
Purdah or Pardaa (literally meaning ‘curtain’) is the practice of preventing women from being seen by men. http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardah.
11
EQUATIONS (September 2008), Review Report on Sustainability In Tourism: A Rural Tourism Model, UNDP, New Delhi,
pg 44.
28
Natural Disasters:
Learning from Tsunami1
September 2009
Executive Summary
This article is an abridged version of the issues highlighted in the post-tsunami research study published
by EQUATIONS in 2006 and resulting in two publications entitled:
O Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry – Coastal Area Assessment: a Post Tsunami Study on Coastal
Conservation & Regulation and Andaman Islands
O Coastal Area Assessment: a Post Tsunami Study on Coastal Conservation & Regulation2.
The research was undertaken during March to December 2005 in the Andaman Islands and the state
of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.3 The research study aimed at documenting the
links between the tsunami, community livelihoods and tourism, but also included other industries like
fisheries and agriculture, and it also aimed at a critique of the status of implementation of legal
frameworks such as the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification. The study included an assessment
of both natural and man-induced factors. The assessment was carried out by way of field visits,
consultations with local individuals and groups, photo-documentation, compilation of secondary
information and data. The investigation helped ascertain the extent of the tsunami’s impacts on
human lives, livelihoods and ecosystems. In addition, the investigation documented and critiqued
existing legal frameworks and development plans, especially tourism relating to coastal and marine
systems in the Andaman Islands.
Coastal Areas
Coastal areas in the world account for 20% of total land area, and more than 40% of the world population
live within 100km of a coast (World Resources Institute, 2007). Coastal areas are densely populated,
as they are the sites of several industrial and infrastructure developments, such as chemical and
petro chemical industries, thermal power plants, aquaculture and tourism. In addition, coastal areas
are typically sites of defence and nuclear developments.
Coastal ecosystems are dynamic between the high tide and low tide zones, and are composed of
various habitats such as estuaries, mangroves, wetlands, coral reefs, and deep seas. These coastal
and marine ecosystems are important in terms of their ecological and livelihood sustaining functions.
At the same they are ecologically fragile and are extremely sensitive to the natural and anthropogenic
activities affecting them.
All over the world, coastal areas are suffering from degradation by these human induced activities;
by constructions being too close to the beach and from pollution where industry waste water and
solid waste are dumped in the sea. As population density in the coastal zones increases, pressures
on coastal ecosystems also increase. Pressures include habitat conversion, land cover change,
pollutant loads that cause loss of biodiversity, coral reef bleaching, siltation, reduced water quality
and threats to human health from polluted water. Anthropogenic effects of the economic activities
along the coast, such as buildings and walls along beaches, prevent the ecosystem from recovering
from natural disasters.
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Natural disasters such as storms, hurricanes, cyclones and tsunamis are a frequent occurrence along
coasts. They can ravage coastal cities and settlements. One such disaster is the tsunami which
occurred on 26 December 2004, as a result of an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale.
The tsunami battered the coast line of several countries. In India the tsunami was one of the country’s
greatest disasters. Many people lost their lives and there was extensive damage to the coasts of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and parts of Kerala.
After the tsunami of 26 December 2004, EQUATIONS carried out an assessment of the resulting
damage in the Andaman Islands and on mainland India in the state of Tamil Nadu and the Union
Territory of Puducherry. These studies included an assessment of both natural and man-induced
factors affecting ecosystem health, dynamics and their impacts, reconstruction measures adopted
and their quality, community structures and their response, development plans for various sectors,
especially tourism, but also including others like fisheries and agriculture, status of implementation of
legal frameworks such as the CRZ notification.
We planned to study all island groups in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that were affected by the
tsunami. However it was not feasible to carry out the research study in the Nicobar Islands, as
permits were required, and in addition there were several NGOs already in the Nicobars carrying
out assessment and involved in relief work as the impact of the tsunami in terms of destruction of
ecosystems, built infrastructure and lives lost was maximum there. Therefore the study was limited
only to the Andaman Islands.
Figure 1 – Showing the Location of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands (World Atlas 2009)
The Andaman Islands have the last pristine reefs in the Indian Ocean region. These coral reefs, which
stretch over an area of 11,000km2, are of global significance as there are 197 species of coral reported
around the islands, which accounts for about 80% of the diversity found anywhere in the world. They
are emerging as one of the most important coral reef sites in the world (Sridha et al, 2006).
However, the coral reefs and ecosystems of small islands such as the Andaman and Nicobar group
are particularly vulnerable to environmental factors affecting small island states. These include:
O limited assimilative and carrying capacity leading to problems associated with waste management
30
Natural Disasters
Figure 2: Showing the State of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry (SJSSJ School)
Tamil Nadu, as shown in figure 2, has a resource rich coastline, bordered by the Bay of Bengal and
the Indian Ocean, stretching for a distance of 1,076km. Approximately 46 rivers drain into the Bay of
Bengal forming several estuaries and coastal lagoons. The Cauvery River and its tributaries form a
large delta supporting agricultural activities. For tourism, there are several landforms of interest along
this coast, including, rock outcrops, mudflats, beaches, spits, coastal dunes and strand features. A
population of approximately 760,000 marine fishermen and several thousand people in allied activities
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depend on the health of this rich coast for their livelihood. Therefore management of the coastline
needs environmental, social and economic governance.
These coastal ecosystems such as the ones in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tamil Nadu and
Puducherry, which include coastal habitats and communities, need to be protected by government
policy and law. In India, one such law is the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification.
The Tsunami
Tsunamis are large-scale natural hazards that have caused tremendous loss of life and destruction of
property. Historical records show that the Pacific Ocean has had the majority of tsunamis with wide
scale destruction. Tsunami destruction has occurred in Japan, Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, South
America and elsewhere in the Pacific (DOD, 2005).
Although not as frequent as in the Pacific Ocean, tsunamis do occur in the Indian Ocean and pose a
great threat to all the countries of the region. The most vulnerable are: Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri
Lanka, Pakistan, Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Maldives, Somalia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Madagascar,
Mauritius, Oman, Reunion Island (France), Seychelles, South Africa and Australia.
Tsunamis that travel across an ocean and attack a coastal area far away from the source of generation
are called distant-tsunamis or teletsunamis, while tsunamis that are confined in an area near the
source are called local tsunamis (DOD, 2005).
On 26 December 2004, the Indian coastline experienced the most devastating teletsunami in recorded
history. The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake at 06:29 hrs of magnitude Mw 9.3 at 3.316o N,
95.854o E off the northwest coast of Sumatra in the Indonesian Archipelago. It is the most powerful
earthquake that has occurred in the world in the last 40 years. The earthquake occurred close to the
Sunda Trench in water depths of about 1300m. The earthquake hypocenter (the point below the
epicentre within the earth) was located at a shallow depth, of about 30 km below the ocean floor. The
high magnitude (Mw 9.3) of the earthquake, combined with the shallow hypocenter triggered the
catastrophic tsunami in the northeast Indian Ocean. The waves travelled across the open ocean as
32
Natural Disasters
Figure 3: Showing the Travelling Waves of the Tsunami, and Time Taken to
Reach Various Countries (UNEP-Grid)
shown in figure 3, to the Bay of Bengal and subsequently transformed into a train of cataclysmic
oscillations on the sea surface close to coastal zones of Sri Lanka, east and west coasts of India,
where immense damage occurred. India had approximately 10,750 deaths, with 5,550 people missing.
In the context of the tsunami, the challenges posed to the CRZ are centred around the fact that the
Island’s tidal lines have undergone a shift because of changes brought about by earthquakes and serious
reconsideration is required due to inadequate implementation of the CRZ since its inception in 1991.
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There was uplift of land by as much as 1m in the northern group of islands, creating new land and
subsidence in the southern parts causing land loss. This caused a change in the high tide line (HTL),
and a change in the CRZ. The reef flats that were uplifted are now exposed during low tide, and the
coral has died. With time, these exposed reef flats will become extensive beaches and the littoral
forests are likely to extend the land area. The mangroves are also affected. The mangrove roots need
to be submerged for 16-18 hours a day and exposed for 6-8 hours a day to breathe. In the uplifted
area the high tide waters stay 0.75m to 1.00m below the normal level, and the waters are not reaching
the roots of the mangrove trees. This is causing the mangrove trees to dry out. In the areas where the
land subsided, the mangrove roots are submerged and the roots cannot breathe.
The seawater inundated and caused a change in salination of approximately 11,010ha of agricultural
land. This is one fifth of the total area that used to be under agriculture. About 6,000 farmers have
been affected by the tsunami, due to the loss of their land.
Figure 4: Tourist Arrivals to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between 1980 and 2006
140000
120000
Number of Tourists
100000
80000
Domestic Tourist
60000 Foreign Tourist
Total Tourist
40000
20000
0
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Years
34
Natural Disasters
in the post-tsunami context is that the Administration (and in particular the Information Publicity and
Tourism department of the Islands) does not acknowledge the link between the disaster and the
vulnerability of the island’s tourism economy.
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
For instance in the case of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, CRZ regulations have not been upheld
through all the rebuilding and reconstruction initiatives. The uplift of the land in the northern group of
islands and subsidence in the southern parts have created a new terrestrial land mass is the northern
parts while land has been lost in the southern parts of the Andaman Islands. This has caused a
change in the High Tide Line and consequently in the Coastal Regulation Zone. There is therefore an
urgent need to remap the HTL and the CRZ in the Andamans as well as in Tamil Nadu, as the present
situation gives scope for violations of the CRZ notification. Demarcation of the HTL and categorisation
of CRZ I, II, III and IV in areas both affected and unaffected by the tsunami and geomorphological
changes is necessary before undertaking reconstruction and rebuilding of the coast.
Additionally, community-based models of the management of ecosystems should be encouraged,
especially in mangrove areas. Such community-based tools should be promoted as a way to increase
ownership and responsibility. Similarly, traditional methods of beach conservation should be
encouraged. These natural ecosystems are vital for the protection of the coast from natural disasters
as well as resilience and quick recovery from natural disasters when they do occur.
This article is abridged from earlier research publications by EQUATIONS by Donna Michele D’Costa.
References
Arthur, R. 2005. Killing the Goose and Eating it Too: Mixing Developmental Metaphors in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Comments on the draft Andaman and Nicobar State Development Report 2005. Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore.
Biguglio, L. 1999. Small Islands, Measuring vulnerability. Available at: http://www.ourplanet.com
DOD - Department of Ocean Development Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management Project Directorate, Chennai,
2005. “Preliminary Assessment of Impact of Tsunami in Selected Coastal Areas of India.” Chennai, India.
EQUATIONS, Feb 2006. “Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry – Coastal Area Assessment: a Post Tsunami Study on Coastal Conservation
& Regulation”, Bangalore INDIA.
EQUATIONS, Feb 2006. “Andaman Islands – Coastal Area Assessment: a Post Tsunami Study on Coastal Conservation &
Regulation”, Bangalore INDIA.
EQUATIONS, INTACH Andaman & Nicobar Islands Chapter, Society for Andaman & Nicobar Ecology, Kalpavriksh, Jamsetji
Tata Centre for Disatster Mangement – TISS, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Action Aid International India (2008) “Rethink
Tourism in the Andamans – Towards Building a Base for Sustainable Tourism,” Bangalore, India.
SJSSJ School, Tamil Nadu map web accessed at url:
http://www.sjssjschool.in/mainpage/thamizhagam/tamilnadu/tnmaps.html
Sridhar, A., R. Arthur, D. Goenka, B. Jairaj, T. Mohan, S. Rodriguez and K. Shanker, 2006. “Review of the Swaminathan
Committee Report on the CRZ Notification”, Draft submitted to UNDP, New Delhi.
UNEP-Grid Lab – web accessed url: http://www.grid.unep.ch/product/map/images/indianocean_propwave.gif
WorldAtlas 2009, accessed on the web on 15th August 2009 – url - http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/lgcolor/
andniccolor.htm
World Resources Institute (2007) “Population within 100km of coastlines.” http://earthtrends.wri.org/maps_spatial/
maps_detail_static.php?map_select=196&theme=1
Endnotes
1
This paper Natural Disasters: Learning From the Tsunami has been submitted to and published by ECOT in their book
Disaster Prevention in Tourism: Perspectives on Climate Justice.
2
Unless separately referenced, all references in this article are from these studies.
3
In August 2006 a bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha changing the Union Territory’s name from Pondicherry to Puducherry
- its name before it was colonised by the French. While it was still called Pondicherry when we conducted the study in
2005-06, we refer to it in this paper by its now official name, Puducherry.
36
Canopy Tourism:
Concept and Practices in the Indian Context
October 2009
The paper shares information on canopy tourism initiatives in India. These tourism initiatives have
been analysed from the perspective of people’s participation in decision-making, project planning and
implementation and their contribution to conservation. Case studies on the canopy tourism initiatives
in Kerala –Elevated walkways in Thenmala and Tree houses in Waynad, provide an insight into this
emerging form of tourism.
The idea of canopy tourism is gathering momentum throughout the world emerging from the South
and Central American countries to the Asian countries, especially in South East Asia. Many states in
India like Kerala, Maharashtra, Andaman and West Bengal have come up with similar initiatives in
sensitive and ecological fragile areas. In some places it is just walkways or places of stay, while some
are transporting mechanisms like ropeways and support adventure activities.
Methodology
Information about different forms of canopy tourism was identified by secondary research. The case
studies are based on field visits to Jungle Park, Green Magic- 1, Wayanad and Thenmala Ecotourism
Project at Kerala. The Jungle Park, Green Magic Resort claims to have constructed the first tree top
house in Asia. The Thenmala Ecotourism Project has an elevated walkway which is very similar to
canopy walkways. Data from interviews with officials in both projects were also used to compile the
case study.
Elevated Walkways
Elevated walkways are walkways built across the canopy at different levels so that tourists are able to
get a close look at the canopy from the walkways at different heights.
Tree Houses
Tree Houses are houses constructed in the trees just below the canopy. The birth of the concept of
tree houses is linked to ways of living of tribal communities. Tribal communities in Kerala used to
construct houses in the trees to protect themselves from animals. Tree houses for tourists were
modelled on these original tree houses.
Zip Line
A zip-line (also known as a flying fox, zip wire, aerial runway, aerial rope slide, death slide or tyrolean
crossing) consists of a pulley suspended on a cable mounted on an incline. It is designed to enable a
user propelled by gravity to traverse from the top to the bottom of the inclined cable, usually made of
37
Working Paper Series 2009–2010
stainless steel, by holding on or attaching to the freely moving pulley. Zip-lines come in many forms,
most often used as a means of entertainment.
Aerial Ropeways
Aerial Ropeway is an arrangement of overhead cables suspended from towers and supporting travelling
buckets used for transporting people, usually over rough terrain. Aerial ropeways are almost similar
to “sky trams a high technology cableway that gives the opportunity of intermediate ride with short
stops to observe the cloud forest biodiversity”. Though sky trams are not found in India.
Conservation
One of the important aspects of ecotourism is that tourism activities lead to conservation of the
ecosystem, where it is operating. It incorporates principles of conservation of natural resources and
biodiversity; rational utilisation of resource: land, water, conventional and non-conventional energy
sources, for creation and maintenance of tourism infrastructure and facilities that are in coherence
with the needs of local environment and culture. Any developmental project affects the ecosystem it
operates in. For any ecotourism model, it is important that cumulative impact assessment is done
prior and post projects to ensure that the impacts are minimal.
In the case of canopy tourism, the aspect of conservation has been overlooked. In most cases
(walkways, ropeways) it requires heavy infrastructure development and investment. For example the
Uttarakhand Tourism Board has recently invited bids for finalisation of ropeway projects. “The three
ropeways include the celebrated Dehradun-Mussoorie ropeway that alone is expected to cost Rs.800
crore. The other two projects are the Jankichatti-Yamunotri and the Thuligad-Purnagiri ropeway that
are much smaller, costing Rs 30 crore and Rs 17 crore, respectively.” The environmental impacts of
such infrastructure heavy development are not measured prior or after the projects. Also to recover
the cost of investment, it is difficult to limit tourist numbers. Usually mass tourism becomes necessary
for such models for financial viability and the conservation aspects are not addressed.
Institutional Mechanisms
Ecotourism requires an institutional mechanism, where there is a scope for discussions on the objectives
of tourism development, monitoring, decision making and benefit sharing mechanisms and a platform
where people’s concerns are addressed. A multi-stakeholder platform involving the local communities,
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Canopy Tourism
panchayats, tourism industry and the government involved in the development of the project needs to
be constituted wherein tourism activities are regulated within the existing laws and policies to ensure
that the project is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.
Case Studies
Elevated Walk Way at Thenmala, Kerala
This was commissioned in 2002 at the adventure zone of Thenmala Ecotourism Project (Government
of Kerala undertaking) at Kollam, Kerala. The elevated walkway is built in an area, which was once
reserved Forest. The land was given on lease to the irrigation department for the construction of
Kallada Dam. After the construction work was over, this land area was transferred to tourism department
for ecotourism development in the late 90s. The walkway which starts from a deck passes through the
canopy and ends in a road at the upper part passes through the canopy at different levels. This
walkway has total length of 120 metres and the maximum elevation point is 21feet. The walkway is
supported by 11 reinforced concrete pillars and the steps and platforms are made out of huge quantity
of wood – ‘Kambakam’. The walkway connects 11 trees and was built at a cost of Rs. 25 lakhs.
Around 25,000 tourists pass through this walkway annually. This is not uniform and during certain
holidays, the number exceeds 250 tourists per day. At some points of time, the tourist number goes
beyond 50, especially when an excursion group comes, making it unsafe. With many tourists at a
time, the scope to peacefully enjoy the canopy or understand the ecosystem more closely is limited.
An observation of the officials reveals that the nesting of the birds in the area has reduced. But since
no record of nesting was taken prior to the project, the actual impact is not known. A number of Bonnet
Macaques are seen in the canopies. There has been behavioural change in the monkeys with tourists
feeding them. The monkeys have been reported to snatch food items from tourists. There is no
participation of local community in the project. On a positive note all the trees in the zone are named
and this helps the tourists to identify the trees
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of local community is limited to construction of tree huts and its maintenance. Since the tree houses
are attached to the conventional resorts, which are in the ground, the day to day operations of the
tree houses are also maintained by the staff of the resort.
2. Vythiri Resorts
The tree houses were constructed one year back. The Jungle Park Resort was closed down for some
time. There was demand for tree houses by tourists as well as tour operators at this point of time and
thus started the initiative. Two tree houses were constructed within a span of 4 months costing around
35 lakhs. The tree houses are erected in a property of 150 acres, where the resort area is 30 acres
and the rest is plots and plantations. The tree houses on the property are at a height of 90 feet and 60
feet. Every year the bamboo roof and bamboo ply are to be changed and repainted. Stay in the tree
house is expensive as the cost of accommodation goes up to Rs. 12000 per day. 95% of the guests
are foreigners and the tree houses are booked for 300 days per year. The tree house needs 6 support
staff to serve the guests. Tourists are taken for morning and evening trails and naturalist accompanies
them, but education on canopy ecosystem is nil. Liquor consumption, smoking and children below 12
years are not permitted owing to safety reasons.
Conclusion
The above case study models and other models like aerial ropeways, are investment heavy projects
Such huge infrastructure models are environmentally damaging and could never be considered as
ecotourism models.
Many canopy style tourism projects are coming up in ecologically sensitive areas like Andaman &
Nicobar Islands and it is important to look at whether these constructions are made in accordance
with the existing legislations and building norms existing in the country. It is important to understand
the socio- economic and environmental impacts of such projects.
While linking canopy tourism to ecotourism, it is essential to understand to what extent the project is
sustainable. In models like tree houses, there is a need to involve local communities and stakeholders
and ensuring they have access to benefits either through employment, sustainable local sourcing of
raw material that contributes to local economy. An independent infrastructure may not be able to do
this. Creation of interpretation centres, training local communities to work as trained guides for the
tourists, providing facilities for bird watching, studying the canopy life – all could create additional
possibilities for engagement of local communities and channelizing benefits to them.
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REDD in India
An Independent Monitoring Report
December 2009
India covers 2.5% of the world’s geographical area and is home to 1.8% of the world’s forests. India
also supports 17% of the world’s human population and 18% of its livestock population. The Indian
forests are home to around 100 million people and provide sustenance to them.
India is rich in flora and fauna with more than 45,500 flowering plants and 91,000 animal species
found in 16 major forest1types. India’s forests meet nearly 40% of the country’s energy needs and
30% of its fodder needs.
2
According to the State of Forest Report2 2005 published by the Forest Survey of India , the recorded
forest
2
area in the country is 769,626 km (or 23.41% of the country’s 2geographic area). Of this, 419,028
km is Reserved Forest (54.4% of the total forest area), 216,605 km is Protected Forest (28.14%) and
2
133,993 km is Unclassed Forest (17.4%).
Reserved Forest is an area notified under the provisions of either the India Forest Act (1927) or the
State Forest Acts, and has full protection. In a Reserved Forest all activities are prohibited unless they
have been explicitly permitted. Protected Forest is also notified under the provisions of the same
Acts, but the degree of protection is more limited: in Protected Forests all activities are permitted
unless prohibited.
Unclassed Forest is an area recorded as forest but not included in any other forest category. Unclassed
forests are actually outside the control and management of the forest departments and primarily
belong to communities and individuals.
According to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, in 1999, around 31 million ha of Indian forests
were degraded.
The total forest cover of the country as per the 2005 assessment is 677,088 km² and this constitutes
3
20.6% of the geographic area of the country. Of this, 54,569 km² (1.66%) is very dense forest, 332,647
km² (10.12%) is moderately dense forest, and 289,872 km² (8.82%) is open forest cover. Madhya
Pradesh with 76,013 km² has the maximum area under forest cover, followed by Arunachal Pradesh
(67,777 km²) and Chhattisgarh (55,863 km²). In terms of the actual proportion of a state under forest
cover, Mizoram has the maximum percentage (88.63%). It is followed by Nagaland (82.75%), and
Arunachal Pradesh (80.93%).
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The basic colonial approach was to declare forests as state property and curtail the rights of the forest
dwellers to areas with commercially valuable species. Clear-felling of vast tracts of forest was the
favored method of ‘forest operations’, followed by complete closure to grazing and other human
activities, such as the collection of firewood, fodder, medicinal plants, bamboo, etc. The Forest
Department (FD) was created in 1864 to oversee these operations. This assertion of state monopoly
right and the exclusion of forest communities, a process by which the British gradually appropriated
forest resources for revenue generation, thus shaped the organizing principles of forest administration
in modern India.
th
Towards the end of the 19 century, almost 80% of the forests was owned by communities and private
individuals. Today, state ownership has increased to more than 80% of the recorded forest area.
Figure1: Degraded Open Forest in the Tribal Heartland of Chhattisgarh in Central India.
Photo: Souparna Lahiri
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REDD in India
Independent India
O National Forest Policy, 1952
O Wild Life Protection Act, 1972
O The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
Following independence, India’s Forest Policy Resolution of 1952 and the 1976 National Commission on
Agriculture (NCA) report also stressed the importance of production forestry and achieving self-sufficiency
in the supply of wood products from the nation’s forests. The 1952 policy also called for the protection of
wildlife and the preservation of fauna by demarcating forests for sanctuaries and national parks.
The 1988 Forest Policy, however, departed from these economic priorities by treating forests first and
foremost as an ecological necessity; then as a source of goods for use by the local populations, with
particular emphasis on Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP); and finally as a source of wood and other
products for industry. It also set a target of increasing forest cover to 33% of India’s land area.
Additionally, it advocated that this area be increased to two-thirds in the hills to prevent erosion and
land degradation and to ensure the stability of these fragile ecosystems.
The NCA recommendations flowed directly from the increasing threats to existing forests. They
recognized the protective and aesthetic functions of forests, regulation of grazing and shifting cultivation,4
and the domestic needs of the people for various forest products, such as fuel wood and fodder.
Thus, the NCA advocated a social forestry model involving industrial plantations on degraded forests
lands and non-forest lands to meet the growing domestic demand for forest products and the fuel
wood and fodder of local communities. Social forestry was seen as a way to reduce pressure on
natural forests and the dependence of forest communities on those forests.
The basic objectives of the 1988 Forest Policy were:
O Maintaining environmental stability through preservation and restoration of the ecological balance.
O Conserving the country’s natural heritage by preserving its remaining natural forests.
O Increasing forest/tree cover through afforestation and social forestry programs on denuded, degraded
O Creating a massive people’s movement, with the involvement of women, to achieve these objectives
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44
REDD in India
clear encroachment of forest lands. The November 2001 MoEF order acts as the basis of the most
draconian government orders of recent times. This order directs state governments and union territories
to summarily evict all encroachers from forest land. Because the Court and MoEF define all land
under the Forest Departments as ‘forest land’, irrespective of the actual use of those lands, the
government order can be (and is being) used to evict even traditional settlements in forest areas. As
a result, the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 has rendered more than 20 million forest people as
encroachers, even though it has not stopped the massive deforestation and diversion of forests
resources to industry.
A Joint Forest Management (JFM) circular recommending ‘involvement of village communities and
voluntary agencies in the regeneration of degraded forest lands’ was issued on 1 June 1990, by the
MoEF. It was merely a government order with no force of the law behind it, but most states have
passed resolutions to introduce JFM and comply with the order because they were also faced with
threats of curtailment of centrally-sponsored schemes. JFM has had some impacts in situations where
state control had already completely eroded traditions of community forest management. However, in
areas where traditional forest management practices still exist (like the north-eastern states, Madhya
Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Uttaranchal), JFM is undermining and commercializing
traditional systems and bringing community-protected forests under the control of the forest department.
JFM was essentially imposed on the forest dwellers without appropriate consultation at any stage of
its planning and implementation. It has also led to the marginalization and displacement of tribals and
the violation of their customary and traditional rights: the defining feature of its implementation has
been its policy of evicting ‘forest encroachers’, which has led to many forest dwellers losing their
lands and access to forest resources. There were 56 JFM project-related police firings in Madhya
Pradesh during the five-year JFM 9
period under the World Bank Forestry Project, some of which
resulted in the death of tribals. In 1997, for example, two tribal villagers were killed by the armed
forces in Mandla and Dahinala when they tried to defend their crops.
The Public Hearing on Forest Rights held in Harda district of Madhya Pradesh in 2001, whose
panel comprised eminent academics Dr Nandini Sundar and Madhu Sarin and journalist Rakesh
Diwan, highlighted the manipulative and threatening tactics employed by the forest department to
extract money, food and begar (a form of bonded labor, where tribal women are obliged to cook,
clean and wash for the village forest officers). These, among many other documented grievances,
led organizations like the Adivasi Mukti Sangathan (Sendhwa), Shramik Adivasi Sangathan, Jana
Sangharsh Morcha and Bharat Jan Andolan to develop large-scale opposition to JFM and the
Forestry project.
As a reaction to this opposition, the World Bank established a Joint Review Mission in 1999 to evaluate
the claims made by the Mass Tribal Organisations (MTOs). The Mission, formed by representatives of
the World Bank, the Madhya Pradesh (MP) Forest Department and the MP Mass Tribal Organisations,
investigated the impact JFM had had on Adivasi communities in the state through field visits and interviews.
Throughout the process, consensus between the three participant groups was reached for every statement
10
made for the report. The report found that amongst other negative elements of the project :
O There was little to no participation of forest-dependent communities in the planning, implementation
or evaluation of the JFM project
O The customary rights of forest dwellers were denied; and
O The livelihoods of the forest dwellers had been threatened by the project.
On the eve of the publication of the report, the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department pulled out, in an
effort to de-legitimize the whole process. The Bank then followed suit, abandoning the Joint Mission.
The Mass Tribal Organisations in Madhya Pradesh published the report unilaterally in May 1999, and
have since been awaiting the promised formal response to the report from the Bank. The mass
demonstrations held both locally at Forest Department offices in 1999 and in New Delhi at the World
Bank’s offices in 1999 and 2000 to obtain this response have been to no avail.
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O The right to hold and live in forest land under individual or common occupation for habitation or for
and other villages in forests (whether recorded, notified, or not) into revenue villages
O The right to protect, regenerate, conserve or manage any community forest resource that they
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effectively pertains to peoples in independent countries who were regarded as Indigenous on account
of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, or a geographical region which the
country belonged to at the time of conquest or colonization or the establishment of present State
boundaries and who, irrespective of their legal status, retained some or all of their socio-economic,
cultural and political institutions.
The Indian government’s position on this contentious issue is further clarified by the statement of the
then Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Y K Sabharwal while speaking in the International Law Association
Conference (2006) in Toronto: “Firstly, it is argued that it is not easy to identify indigenous peoples in
India. For there have been continuous waves of movement of populations with different language,
race, culture, religion going back centuries and millennia. Tribal communities have been a part of this
historical process. In the circumstances the question arises as to how far back in history should one
go to determine the identity of “indigenous peoples”? Whatever the nature of determination it is likely
to be extremely arbitrary and controversial. Secondly, tribal and non-tribal peoples have lived in India
in close proximity for over centuries leading to, as one author puts it ‘much acculturation and even
assimilation into the larger Hindu Society.’ Thirdly, in the case of India some tribes are no longer tribes
but have become, as the eminent sociologist Andre Betteile puts it, ‘castes or something else’. Fourthly,
tribal peoples in many cases may have settled in India long after some non-tribal peoples in other
parts of India. Finally, attention has been drawn to the serious national sovereignty issues involved
revolving around question of “self-determination” and ownership of lands.” Justice Sabharwal further
said, “It may not be fair to say that the claim of some countries like that of India are not correct. India
is indicted, unjustifiably though, at times on the ground that it is resisting to accept the existence of
indigenous peoples in its society. When one looks at it from the standpoint of a person other than
Indian, it may appear that India’s stand is not correct. But one who is familiar with the Indian scenario
may agree with the Indian perception. India has a history of cultural assimilation even while we agree
to some communities maintain their distinct identity within the nation. India always presented a unity
in diversity and diverse cultural identity is no insignia of the existence of indigenous group. “Indeed,
India accepts the existence of different tribes within its larger system again not different from the main
culture in terms of the core values. True to its tradition of cultural assimilation and spirit of
accommodation the Indian constitution presents the picture of the larger system of permitting the
smaller political systems of tribal populations to be part of the system to remain distinct culturally but
to be part of the larger system politically with sufficient autonomy wherever necessary and possible.
Schedules V and VI of the Constitution of India specifically make provision for safeguarding the interests
of the tribal people in India located in what is called tribal areas.”
While controversy still exists over the very notion of the scheduling of certain tribal groups, the criteria
followed for such selective scheduling, and national sovereignty issues around the question of self-
determination and the ownership of lands, are at the crux of India taking a position in complete contrast
to the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) within the country.
The majority of tribal groups and communities have long demanded political autonomy over decision-
making and governance on issues related to them and in their areas, and recognition of their traditional
and customary rights over their ancestral land and habitats. Strong public mobilization, tribal14movements
and electoral politics resulted
15
in the enactment of a separate Provisions of the Panchayat (Extension
to the Scheduled Areas ) Act (PESA) in 1996 which provides:
O Autonomy over customary law, social and religious practices and traditional management practices
of community resources
O A village community to manage its affairs in accordance with traditions and customs.
O A Gram Sabha to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural
identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution.
O That the Gram Sabha should approve of the plans, programs and projects for social and economic
development before they are taken up for implementation by the Panchayat at the village level
O That the Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be consulted before making
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REDD in India
the acquisition of land in the Scheduled Areas for development projects and before re-settling or
rehabilitating persons affected by such projects
O For the recommendations of the Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level to be
made mandatory prior to the granting of prospecting licenses or mining leases or concessions.
Panchayats at the appropriate level and the Gram Sabha are also specifically endowed with:
O The power to enforce prohibition or to regulate or restrict the sale and consumption of any intoxicant
O The power to prevent alienation of land in the Scheduled Areas and to take appropriate action to
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The policies, legislations and action plans cited above, are, however, not without controversies and
severe criticisms.
While the Biological Diversity Act (2002) faced severe criticism from the communities and related
NGOs, the processes resulting in NEP 2006 and NAPCC 2008 were also accused of being non-
participatory and non-transparent. The MoEF also rejected the National Biodiversity State Action
Plans developed and formulated by the rural communities, tribal groups and forest people in 2002,
and no action was taken to implement the recommended action plans. In addition, the National
Agriculture Policy (2000), National Seeds Policy (2002) and National Wildlife Action Plan, also
mentioned in the Fourth Report, were drafted and finalized unilaterally without any meaningful and
proper consultation with or the participation of stakeholder communities.
The Government of India claims the enactment of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (2006), the establishment of the Wildlife Control Bureau,
the integration of biological diversity concerns into the Environment Impact Assessment Notification
(EIA, 2006), the draft Coastal Management Zone Notification (2008) and the National Tiger Conservation
Authority are all measures taken to strengthen implementation mechanisms in policy, legislative and
administrative measures targeted at biodiversity conservation and management.
In reality, even after the Indian Parliament passed the Forest Rights Act in 2006 December, it took the
Government one full year to notify the Act, primarily due to the opposition of the wildlife lobby, a
section of MoEF bureaucrats and the strong Forest Department lobby.
Furthermore, there is nothing to indicate that legitimate biodiversity concerns have been integrated into
the EIA Notification 2006. On the other hand, the NGOs, tribal groups and adivasi communities have
accused the MoEF of diluting the earlier notification of 1994 to pave an easy way for the project developers
to get their projects cleared. These groups have demanded scrapping of the EIA Notification 2006.
The draft Coastal Management Zone Notification is another government folly. This draft was
surreptitiously introduced in an attempt to replace the earlier Coastal Zone Regulation Notification, at
the behest of the strong real estate, tourism and infrastructure lobby, who want to free India’s vast
coastline of the fishing and other coastal communities, even though this would deprive them of their
livelihood and traditional habitat. Amidst consistent protest from the fishing communities, the
Government was forced to let the draft Notification lapse by the end of July 2009.
There is really nothing to indicate that the Indian Government is genuinely keen to protect and conserve
its rich forest biodiversity, except the steps and instruments that it has put on paper – which remain on
paper only.
Consider the biodiversity rich states of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal. More
than 300 mega hydro projects, oil exploration, cement plants, chemical plants and extensive mining
activities are proposed in these states, even though Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh are part of the
Indo-Myanmar Biodiversity Hotspot with hundreds and thousands of rare and endangered plant and
animal species. Thousands of hectares of pristine forests are diverted for non-forest activities and
destroyed, much subsequently replaced by monoculture plantations in the name of afforestation.
Similarly, the forests and habitats of tribal communities are cleared and given to global mining and
steel giants in the central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
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REDD in India
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). The Indian proposal on
forest conservation and the sustainable management of forests, and incremental increases in forest
cover, put forward as a policy approach to enhance carbon stocks, found place not only in the preamble
but also in the operative part (paragraphs 3 and 7) of the COP’s decision on REDD. Similarly, the
COP decision on the Bali Action Plan contains references, inter-alia, to policy approaches and positive
incentives relating to the role of conservation, the sustainable management of forests and the
enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
India’s focus on the importance of including the conservation of forests and sustainable forest
management, and improvements in forest cover, in REDD received the usual support from Costa
Rica, China, Panama, Malaysia, Gabon, Ghana and African countries amongst others. Collectively,
they demanded:
O The inclusion of forest degradation, the conservation of forest and/or increase in forest cover in the
REDD draft text
O That REDD projects should be accounted for and conducted at the national and/or sub-national
level.
India’s two main approaches to REDD are ‘compensated reduction’ and ‘compensated conservation’
where it says that carbon is saved from reducing deforestation and degradation, and carbon is added
through conservation, the sustainable management of forests and increases in forest cover
(afforestation and reforestation). Both have to be compensated equally.
India’s arguments rest heavily on the claim that India is a low deforestation country. This is contentious.
The forest groups in India have said all along that the loss of dense to moderately dense forests within
the recorded forest area is being hidden under the garb of increasing forest and tree cover. The first
enumeration of forest and tree cover in India was covered by the State of Forest Report 2001. According
to this report, forest cover has been taken as comprising all lands more than one hectare in area, with
a canopy density of more than 10 per cent, irrespective of land use and ownership. All perennial
woody vegetation (including bamboos, palms, coconut, apple, mango, neem, peepal, etc.) has been
treated as tree in the report. Thus, all lands with tree crops, such as agro forestry plantations, fruit
orchards, tea and coffee estates with trees, etc. have been included as forest cover since 2001.
The 2003 assessment reveals an overall increase of 2,795 km2 or 0.41% in forest cover across the
country. But there is a decrease in dense forest cover to the tune of 26,245 km2 (6.30%) and the
open forest cover has increased by 29,040 km2 (11.22 %). Moreover, because satellite data is still
treated as ‘classified’ in the country, and ‘ground-truthing’ (if any) is carried out in a similarly
clandestine manner, it is difficult if not impossible to verify exactly how much natural forest is vanishing
every year, and where from. However, from the State of Forests reports, it can be seen that
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degradation of forests is not confined to any particular province or region, but is happening, almost
uniformly, throughout the country.
The incremental increase in forest and tree cover is also due to industrial plantations both on degraded
forests and non-forest land, and compensatory afforestation programmes to compensate diversion of
recorded forest land for development projects. According to the information collected from the Ministry
of Environment and Forests by an NGO Kalpavriksh (through the Right to Information Act) between
1980 and 2007, 1,140,177 ha of forest land were diverted for non-forest purposes. Out of this a
whopping 311,220 ha were cleared recently between 2003 and 2007.
According to the National Forest Commission in 2006, about 41% of the country’s forest cover has
already been degraded and dense forests are losing their crown density and productivity continuously.
At present, 70% of forests have no natural regeneration and 55% are prone to fire.
India’s conservation regime as it is implemented through a set of Protected Areas (PAs) has also
been extremely controversial, displacing and violating the basic human rights of the forest people.
There is little basic data of the number of forest dwellers being displaced by the PAs or practically
imprisoned in them without basic amenities and rights over NTFP, fuel wood or fodder. The National
Forest Commission (2006) indicates that an estimate of around 4 million are imprisoned within the
Indian PAs.
Large scale displacement of forest people and loss of usufruct rights have been reported in the National
Parks of Tawa, Nagarhole, Pench, Kanha, Buxa, Palamau, Rajaji, and Tadoba and scores of Wildlife
sanctuaries during the last 35 years. The GEF funded India Eco-Development Project, which
emphasized conservation by reducing dependence of forest communities on forests, itself contributed
20
to the displacement of more than 200 villages in the NPs of Nagarhole, Pench, Kanha and Buxa.
India is therefore, claiming financial incentives for a forest management regime that displaces and
violates the rights of forest people, continues to divert large tracts of forests, often dense to moderately
dense, and then replaces it with industrial, monoculture plantations.
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REDD in India
acquired, from this fund. This huge sum under CAMPA was primarily collected from the heavily forested
regions of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and the north eastern part of the
country where sizable tracts of forest land are traditionally owned by the communities and individuals.
Things have become more complex with the enactment of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Large tracts of
forests in India will legally come under community governance. How will REDD recognize the legally
binding rights of the forest communities, and their contribution to conservation and sustainable
management of forests and biodiversity? Who can then claim the incentives for reducing deforestation
and degradation? Will REDD undermine the community conservation efforts and rights of the forest
communities and strengthen a centralized form of forest governance practiced by countries like India,
eroding the recent gains that forest communities have snatched at a great cost? Will REDD be the
nemesis for the Forest Rights Act, 2006 in India?
In all likelihood it seems that REDD and other forest-related funds will only promote an artificial greening
of the country, whilst increasing the financial clout of the forest bureaucracy and thereby undermining
the rights and entitlements of the forest people. The way things are currently moving in the forest
sector in India, market or fund-based financial mechanisms like REDD may tend to act as a disincentive
towards the decentralization of forest governance. The majority of the forest people in India have
already shifted to areas which are of less intrinsic value and considered uneconomic. REDD could be
the final straw for forest dependent communities, if both the state and private sector actors are then
tempted to stake their claims to these ‘uneconomic’ areas.
Figure 3: Dense, Community Controlled and Governed Forest in Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh,
North East India.
Photo -Souparna Lahiri.
It seems that the emergence of a REDD fund in India is unlikely to lead to the conservation of natural
old growth forests, or regeneration of forests, or improvements for the life and livelihood of the forest
people. The commodification of India’s forests may well be completed, at the cost of its protectors –
the forest people and forest communities.
Endnotes
1
India’s Fourth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government
of India, 2009.
2
State of Forest Report 2005, Ministry of Environment and Forests, India, 2005, http://www.fsi.nic.in/sfr_2005.htm
3
ibid.
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4
Report of the National Commission on Agriculture: Forestry, Volume IX, New Delhi, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation,
Government of India, 1976.
5
available at http://moef.nic.in/index.php
6
India’s Forests, Forest Research Institute, Government of India, Dehradun, 1984.
7
available at http://moef.nic.in/index.php
8
available at http://moef.nic.in/index,php
9
Village Forest Protection Committees in Madhya Pradesh: an update and critical evaluation, Emily Caruso, Anurag Modi,
Forest Peoples Programme, 2004.
10
A summary of the Joint Mission’s findings can be found in the document cited above in footnote 9.
11
Available at http://tribal.gov.in
12
Gram Sabha is a traditional village council/assembly, where the council is constituted of every adult villager with equal
voting rights including women.
13
The Concept of Indigenous Peoples, background paper prepared by the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issue, New York, 2004.
14
A Panchayat is a constitutionally recognized elected body of self-governance at the lowest tier of the three tier self
governance system in India. Panchayats enjoy some form of autonomy as per the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments.
15
Scheduled Areas are constitutionally recognized scheduled tribes’ majority areas with various forms of autonomy and
formally categorized as Schedule V and Schedule VI areas.
16
Available at http://tribal.gov.in
17
India’s Fourth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government
of India, 2009, available at http://moef.nic.in/index,php
18
Views from ICFRE, Dehradun, India (an Observer organization) to UN FCCC on REDD, India’s Submission to Cairns
SBSTA, 2007, www.icfre.gov.in
19
REDD Negotiations: Case for HFLD Countries, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, 2009. This is a
comprehensive document explaining Indian Government’s approach to REDD from Montreal COP to Bonn, available at
www.icfre.gov.in
20
Data compiled by the author from various sources.
54
Ecological Commons,
People and Tourism
March 2010
Tourism is a highly resource centric and resource heavy industry that banks on the availability of land,
water and natural resources for providing the tourist experience. Unregulated tourism and diversion
of natural resources for meeting tourism demands has caused negative impacts on the environment.
Inevitably, local communities that are dependent for their livelihoods on commonly shared natural
resources also experience hardships from depletion of the commons. The case of the Himalayan Ski
Village Resort in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh gives a glimpse into the nature of communities’
struggles against tourism led privatisation of commons.
The $300 million Himalayan Ski Village project financed by Alfred Ford, the great-grandson of the US
automaker, Henry Ford was stopped by local communities and Him Niti Campaign, a local group. The
Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) project included the construction of hotels, restaurants, cafes,
entertainment and shopping areas, as well as apartments and villas in Kullu district of Himachal
Pradesh. Initially the project’s built up area was spread over 133 acres and required 6000 acres of
pristine forests and mountain areas for skiing activities, making a storage house and support base
(for heli pad and gas station) near Beas River (the area has not reduced as per the report of the High
powered committee –it is at 93.1 ha or 223 acres). The developers had proposed to divert 14.7 Ha of
forest land for the project. Local communities’ organizations and NGOs opposed the project due to
the following reasons. Its requirements for large scale deforestation and increased risk of floods and
siltation in dams and farms downstream; impact on flow of natural resources like medicinal herbs,
fodder, fuel wood to the villages located down the slopes, disrupt rights and livelihoods of nomadic
communities by taking away their grazing rights in high altitude pastures, pollution of water sources
and decreased water availability in rivers, streams due to artificial snow making. These rivers and
streams are the primary source of water for drinking and irrigation for local communities and pollution
would render them unusable for agriculture and drinking purposes.
In June 2007, Jan Jagran Evam Vikas Samiti (JJVS) and a local hotelier filed a Public Interest Litigation
(PIL) in the High Court of Himachal Pradesh. In April 2008, the High Court disposed off the PILs
saying that they were satisfied with the state government’s action of constituting a six-member High
Powered Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Tourism) to look into various aspects
relating to setting up of Himalayan Ski Village1. The High Powered Committee report recommends
that the State government can terminate the MoU with HSV as local communities did not support the
project, as their wellbeing and livelihoods depends on the environment. The Government can also
terminate the signed deal as HSV had not fulfilled the conditions of the interim agreement signed with
Government by not submitting the EIA report for environmental clearance, and therefore. However
the very same Committee recommends opening Pandora’s box all over again by inviting global tenders
for a ski village project2.
The above example shows how tourism is increasingly encroaching on public commons in the guise
of development. Moreover the State, a mere trustee of these public resources, is found to facilitate
acquisition of common property resources for private use and profit. Tourism depends on variety of
economic, social, physical resources, often in competition with needs of local communities.
Communities’ resources for sustenance like agricultural land, common property resources (CPR) are
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
diverted for exclusive use of tourism. Common property resources - beaches, natural streams &
water bodies, forests, bugiyals (grazing lands) in the mountain valleys, which were once accessible to
local communities, are increasingly getting converted into private spaces. Hence communities loose
their power of ownership, regulation and control over common property resources.
Water is diverted to meet commercial needs of tourism enterprises like hotels, resorts, amusement
and water parks, golf courses etc. The demand for water by the tourism industry in most instances
has meant less water for nearby farmers, villages and households. For example, in Goa:
The local population of villages of Cansaulim – Arossim – Cuelim’s monthly consumption of water
was 19440 cu.m. of water. In comparison, Hotel Heritage consumed 5012.70 cu.m. while Park Hyatt
consumed 36217 cu.m. almost double the requirement of the three villages3. The development of
tourist facilities like golf courses has resulted in pollution and depletion of ground water resources for
surrounding communities. An average 18-hole golf course requires at least 525,000 gallons of water
a day - enough to supply the irrigation needs of a 100 farmers4.
Due to land acquisition and displacement of local communities for construction of big hotel projects,
communities have lost access to natural resources and therefore their livelihoods. Massive investment
into tourism, takes over common property resources that are used for sustenance and livelihoods by
local communities, at times through benami transactions5. In the case of the Himalayan Ski Village
project, the State Government of Himachal Pradesh led by the Planning Commission changed its
land policy under Section 118, Himachal Pradesh Land Reforms Act to attract private investments in
tourism sector6. Section 118 restricts purchase and sale of property by non-Himachalis (non residents
of the state). HSV enjoyed an exemption from the provisions of Section 118.
Ecotourism is the new magic mantra endorsed by the tourism industry giants, travel - trade associations
and governments. Ecotourism’s promotion as a market-based conservation mechanism has seen
areas rich in biodiversity including protected areas and national parks being opened for tourism.
In the name of ecotourism, mainstream tourism that is devoid of environmental sustainability, equity
in benefit-sharing with indigenous and local communities is being pushed into various eco-fragile
areas. The potential of ecotourism to conserve biodiversity has been contested. These areas have
been conserved by indigenous and local communities who have inhabited them for centuries are now
being displaced in the name of conservation. Increasingly tourism is being allowed a backdoor entry
into the very regions that were set aside by laws of conservation, without significant concern of its
conflicts with conservation goals and impacts on ecology and communities dependent on these natural
resources for sustenance. The tourism industry is allowed to operate with subsidies and incentives in
protected and other ecologically sensitive areas without adhering to stringent environmental or social
impact assessments.
A number of resorts are coming up outside the boundary of national parks. To promote ecotourism,
the Chhattisgarh Forest Department has constructed a luxurious ‘eco-resort’ in a forest adjacent to
the Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary, Chhattisgarh.
The Mohda eco-resort is located on forest land and on the banks of a lake, both being common
property resources. The land belongs to the Chhattisgarh Forest Development Corporation but the
resort has been handed over to Chhattisgarh Tourism Board (CTB) for running and management. The
project can be legally challenged for the diversion of forest land for commercial purposes under
Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and for its transfer to private parties. TheCTB is considering the
property for privatisation. Using PPP (public-private partnership) the CTB will create infrastructure
and hand them over to private players to operate. The private players will accrue benefits and the
State will be benefitted from the collection of taxes. The common property resources of forest and
water-source, which could have been used by the local people, have now been segregated for the
exclusive use and enjoyment of tourists. The resort also violates the recommendations of Indian
Board for Wildlife in 2002 for declaration of land falling within the 10 km of boundaries of national
parks and wildlife sanctuaries as eco-fragile zone under section 3 (v) of Environment Protection Act.
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Ecological Commons, People and Tourism
The development of tourism establishments on periphery also hinders movement of wildlife for food &
water. The wildlife in turn starts entering human habitations which increases the possibility of human-
animal conflict7.
These conflicts have led to damage to property and loss to human and animal lives. The lack of
consultation with local Panchayats when tourism projects are prepared by governments violates the
Constitutional provisions of the 73rd Amendment Act, 1972. Panchayats as institutions of local self
government have the power to decide the kind of development they would like in their regions and to
plan and implement schemes for socio-economic development. The role of the Panchayats is thus
reduced to a mere formality as they are only consulted after all clearances have been granted and a
no objection certificate is required. At this stage, the Panchayats do not refuse, since all other clearances
are granted.
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
Conclusion
Throughout the world tourism is being promoted for achieving development and India is no exception.
But the question arises, for who is this development and who does it benefit and at what cost? As
tourism is pushed into various spaces for poverty alleviation, conservation and sustainable
development, rarely has tourism been able to achieve these. On the contrary tourism has alienated
people from their rights over common property resources and has thus caused conflicts.
Tourism’s claims of conservation and benefits to local communities have not materialised. Instead the
route charted by tourism follows a privatisation of public and common property resources. Prioritising
tourism development at the cost of people’s rights is unacceptable and unjustified.
Endnotes
1
Him Niti Campaign, Himachal Pradesh, JJVS, EQUATIONS (2008), ‘Impacts of the proposed Himalayan Ski-Village
Project in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh’.
2
High Powered Committee constituted by State Government on directions of High Court Himachal Pradesh, ‘Report on
review/ examination of the Project Himalayan Ski Village in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh’ . Received in response to
RTI Application filed on 5 January 2010 by Dr. Pushpalchand Thakur, General Secretary JJVS.
3
Council for Social Justice and Peace and EQUATIONS, ‘The Challenge and Prospects of Tourism in Goa Today’ (2009),
pg 24.
4
Ibid, pg 10.
5
Not in any specific name, false transactions.
6
The Planning Commission of India in 2005 brought out the Himachal Pradesh Development Report, which carried a
critical analysis of the tourism sector in the state. It states that the Himachal Tourism Department is pursuing a tourism
policy sans action and overselling the already saturated Shimla-Kullu-Manali circuit. The concern for pressures on
infrastructure was not so much about the stress on local resources but more for the fact that the State was not tapping into
other potential tourism spots to increase tourism’s contribution to the State’s economy. One of the recommendations in
the Report was to achieve this objective through reform of the tourism sector by changing the Land Policy Himachal
Pradesh’ to attract private investments; particularly section 118 of the HP Land Reforms Act.
7
EQUATIONS (2009), ‘Nature, Markets, Tourism - Exploring Tourism’s claims to Conservation in India’.
8
EQUATIONS (2008), ‘Coastal regulation in India –Why do we need a new notification?’, Pg 12.
9
EQUATIONS (2008), ‘Coastal regulation in India –Why do we need a new notification?’, Pg 11.
10
Gandhi Divya and Shivanand Swathi, ‘A farewell to Hebbal lake?’, The Hindu, 25 July 2007, < http://www.hindu.com/
2007/07/25/stories/2007072558510100.htm >, [accessed 9 April 2010].
11
Gandhi Divya, ‘Forest Department Serves notice on Oberoi Hotels’, the Hindu, 10 October 2007 < http://www.hindu.com/
2007/10/10/stories/2007101050310100.htm >, [accessed 9 April 2010].
12
Mahanti Gitanjali (2008), ‘Article on PIL against Lake Privatisation’, ESG, < http://www.esgindia.org/campaigns/lakes/
current.html>, [accessed 9 April 2010].
13
ESG (2008), ‘The High Court passed an interim order (zip file - 164 KB) restricting lake privatisation on 4 November
2008’, <http://www.esgindia.org/campaigns/lakes/current.html >, [accessed 9 April 2010].
58
Child Pornography & Tourism
A Pressing Concern
March 2010
India is home over 375 million children, comprising nearly 40% of its population. Unfortunately it also
has the largest number of sexually abused children in the world. A National Study on Child Abuse
(April 2007), covering 13 states in India and a sample size of 12,446 children, commissioned by the
Ministry of Woman and Child Development, Government of India revealed that over half the surveyed
children (53%) were sexually abused. Forms of sexual abuse included photographing a child nude
and exposing a child to pornographic materials.
Child pornography is a growing concern within India. Through still and video cameras, sexually abusive
images of children are produced. These images are accessed via the internet and increasingly now
over mobile phones. The internet provides anonymity to paedophiles who access the virtual spaces of
newsgroups, chat rooms, e-mail and websites. The internet has enabled massive expansion in materials
available and made access relatively easy and inexpensive. These technologies also facilitate organised
sexual abuse and violence against children by networks of commercial buyers, sex tourists, paedophiles
and traffickers. It is linked with several actors across borders and has direct links to tourism. One
country can be a place where production takes place, the child used for the pornographic production
could be from a second country, and the final pornographic product could be or end up in a third country.
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the sale of children,
child prostitution and child pornography 2000. Furthermore it specifically addresses computer-related
crimes against children.
Another important legislation is the Goa Children’s Act (2003), applicable to the state of Goa. It was
the first Act in the country which recognised that tourism is a contributor to child exploitation. This Act
punishes any form of soliciting, publicizing or providing of children to any adult or even other children
for purposes of commercial exploitation. This includes hosting websites, taking suggestive or obscene
photographs, providing materials, soliciting costumers, guiding tourists and other clients, appointing
touts, using agents, or any other form which may lead to abuse of a child.
In 1996, the Freddy Peats case (Freddy Peats vs India, 1996, Session Case No. 24 of 1992) first
created public awareness on child abuse and pornography. Freddy Peats a foreigner of unknown
origin, was convicted in India for sexually abusing children, prostituting boys under the guise of running
a shelter and in possession of 2305 child pornographic photos, 135 strips of negatives, as well as
medication and narcotic substances. This was the first conviction for running an organised paedophilia
racket in India. This case should have alerted the existence of an organised system but it was dismissed
by officials and the tourism industry as an aberration. Subsequently many such cases on child abuse
have been unearthed, many of them with direct links to tourism, however the record of convictions on
these cases have been abysmal.
The Interpol, in workshops organised by civil society organisations, has indicated that there seems to
be a growing trend of child pornography material linked to India, but that the issue does not seem to
be on the radar of enforcement officials in the country. In a very recent development, child pornography
has come under the scanner specifically when in November 2009, for the first time a case was registered
against an offender under the Section 67 (B) of the Information Technology Act (2008). Wilhelmus
Weijdeveld (56), a Dutch national was arrested on 7th November 2009 by the cyber crime wing of the
police, after being alerted by the Interpol that he was uploading pornographic material of children. On
10th February 2010 he was released on bail as the Central Crime Branch (CCB) failed to file the
required charge sheet against him within 60 days from the date of his arrest. Yet another indication of
the lack of seriousness and apathy of Indian officials towards protecting children.
The World Congress III against the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents 2008 in the Rio
de Janeiro Declaration called upon the national and state policy and legislature, the tourism, travel,
and hospitality industry and other stakeholders to:
O Criminalize production, distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography, including virtual
images and the sexually exploitative representation of children, as well as the consumption, access
and viewing of such materials where there has been no physical contact, extending legal liability to
entities such as corporations and companies in case of responsibility for or involvement in the
production and/or dissemination of such materials.
O Undertake specific and targeted actions to prevent and stop child pornography and the use of the
internet and new technologies for the grooming of children into online and off-line abuse and for
the production and dissemination of child pornography and other materials. Victim identification
and support and care by specialized staff should be made a high priority;
O Take necessary legislative measures to require Internet service providers, mobile phone companies,
search engines and other relevant actors to report and remove child pornography websites and
child sexual abuse images, and develop indicators to monitor results and enhance efforts.
O Set up a common list of websites, under the auspices of Interpol, containing sexual abuse images,
based on uniform standards, whose access will be blocked; the list has to be continuously updated,
exchanged on international level, and be used by the provider to perform the access blocking
Child pornography in tourism is an organised and serious crime and is growing. It demands committed
and concerted action. Governments, international bodies and tourism industry must approach this
with a sense of urgency and outrage. They must play proactive, decisive and demonstrated roles in
protection of children and promise that tourism will be ethical, humane and non exploitative. Capacity
building of the police, government departments, immigration, airport authorities, hotel and travel industry,
and local NGOs to address child pornography and child abuse issues is critical.
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Working
Paper Series
2009–2010
Section II
CAMPAIGN STATEMENTS
Equations
61
Working Paper Series 2009–2010
62
Campaign Statement -
Our Culture is not for Sale!
on World Tourism Day
27 September 2009
On World Tourism Day 2009, we call upon global tourism institutions like the UNWTO, National and
State Tourism Boards and the Industry to comprehend and accept the existence of the negative
impacts of tourism on host cultures. We urge bodies like the UNWTO not to so quickly celebrate
tourism’s role as protector of culture…tourism has some serious soul searching to do before it awards
itself that accolade!
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is “Celebrating Diversity” on World Tourism Day, 27 September
2009. They proclaim, “This year’s theme focuses on the world’s cultural wealth and the important
role sustainable tourism plays in revitalizing local traditions and making them flourish as they cross
other cultures...”1
In contrast, we quote John Urry who writes about the complex phenomenon of the tourist gaze says
“The tourist pay(s) for their freedom; the right to disregard native concerns and feelings, the right to
spin their own web of meanings… The world is the tourist’s oyster… to be lived pleasurably – and
thus given meaning”2
The impact of mass tourism on local communities’ ecology, economy and culture has been immense.
Local communities in Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan and many other highly visited tourist destinations in
India believe the costs that local people have borne are too high and impacts on culture and society
irreversible.
The UNWTO should know that the percentage of tourism projects that are ‘sustainable’ or pursue
‘sustainability’ is extremely small. Tourism that profits from the commercialization of culture rarely
originates from the economic or cultural necessity of the “host” communities but is usually promoted
by the profit motive of the tourism industry.
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Tourism has promoted the “museumisation” of culture – taking it out of living spaces into something to
be viewed and consumed from a distance and not experienced and be moved or changed by. Most
often the wealth of plurality of culture is not documented and also there is an effort to monopolise
culture. It therefore minimises the possibility of generating genuine learning and respect of other
cultures through authentic cultural interchange.
An adivasi woman from Chhattisgarh, central India, referring to statues of their deities made from
traditional bell metal, spoke of her fear of entering any room in which they were kept! She said she
could not face them inside a room as their Gods were meant to be kept outside the village to protect
them from harm. In making a “popular product” out of their sacred deities, no one asked the adivasi
what they thought and how they felt3. Private spaces of people are dragged into the public domains.
Fulmani, a young adivasi girl from Jharkhand, another central Indian State, said, “We are called by
the district administration to dance before strangers, when ever people come to visit the officers. Why
should we dance before these strangers? Our dance is part of our expression of happiness, way of
showing our reverence to the almighty. We feel disgraced.”4 Peoples’ identities are now being shaped
by what tourism promotes and not what they actually are.
The Carnival in Goa and the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland, as many other cultural celebrations in
other parts of the country, is reduced to a farce or spectacle put on for tourists, far removed from its
original role.
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Campaign Statement - Our Culture is not for Sale!
attractive and sellable. Only then will cultural authenticity and sensitivity be possible between the
tourist and local communities.
O To mitigate the negative impacts of tourism on culture by emphasising policies that prioritise local
communities basic needs over that of tourist luxuries when tourism is developed.
O To educate tourists on the cultural dynamics and values of the local communities and enhance
respect for their cultural sensitivities.
Statement Endorsed By
O Tourism investigation & monitoring team(tim-team), Bangkok/Thailand
O Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT).
Endnotes
1
http://www.unwto.org/wtd/2009/en/wtd09.php - as on 11 September 2009.
2
Bauman, Z (1993), Postmodern Ethics, London: Routledge, Quote taken from John Urry, The Tourist Gaze, Second
Edition (1990, reprinted in 2006).
3
This is Our Homeland, A collection of essays on the betrayal of adivasi rights in India, EQUATIONS, July 2007.
4
View received during EQUATIONS interaction with the people who had gathered for the Annual convention of the Jharkhand
Jangal Bachao Andolan- a Movement to Save the Forests of Jharkhand.
5
Drought, Recession and Relief, Business Line, Sep 18, 2009, http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/09/18/stories/
2009091850180900.htm
6
Nearly Half of Karnataka is Drought Hit, says minister, Thaindian News August 22nd, 2008, http://www.thaindian.com/
newsportal/uncategorized/nearly-half-of-karnataka-is-drought-hit-says-minister_10087518.html
7
A Hindu religious festival that has it’s roots to the rulers of the former princely state of Mysore, Karnataka, India.
8
People’s Festival No More, Sundar Vattan, Spectrum, Deccan Herald, 15 September 09.
9
Mysore gets ready for historic Dasara, By Team Mangalorean Mysore, Mysore Sept 18,2009, http://mangalorean.com/
news.php?newstype=local&newsid=146284
10
Sustainability In Tourism, A Rural Tourism Model, Review Report, September 2008, EQUATIONS.
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To,
Smt. J.Geeta Reddy
FDC & Tourism Minister
Department of Tourism, I & PR,
Government of Andhra Pradesh,
Hyderabad
Dear Ms. Reddy
Sub: Sea cruise from Vizag to Andaman
EQUATIONS is a research, advocacy, and campaigning organisation working since 1985 on the
impacts of tourism, particularly in terms of rights and benefits to local communities. We envision
tourism that is non-exploitative, sustainable, where decision-making is democratised and access to
and benefits of tourism are equitably distributed.
th
The Business Standard dated 16 June 2009 reported in the article ‘AP proposes sea cruise from
Vizag to Andaman’, the plans of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation to promote
cruise tourism to the fragile Andaman Islands. Please find enclosed the article in the Business standard.
We are quite concerned about this development as research the world over has shown that cruise
tourism brings along with it many more problems than benefits. We have enclosed a note detailing
them. Cruise tourism – needs a more careful scrutiny in terms of its:-
O Contribution to the local economy –
X Even though cruise tourism has the potential to attract a large number of tourists at a
time, most of these tourists tend to spend more onboard the cruise liners; as a result the
local communities are not benefitted.
O Environmental implications -
X Cruise tourism requires heavy infrastructure development. The appropriateness of this as a
tourism product needs to be questioned given the limited availability of resources be it land
or raw material for construction etc, particularly on the fragile islands.
X High volume of tourists who come for a short duration increases the demands for energy, water
consumption. Carrying capacity of the islands is also an issue here.
X Solid and liquid waste is a serious threat to the ecosystem of the Islands, given the
discharge of waste and sewage by ships directly into the marine waters and the absence
of adequate waste management practises.
X Air and water pollution due to ships docking at multiple points on the ports also needs
to be dealt with adequate caution to prevent pollution of coastal areas and waters. The exhaust
emissions and ballast water from ships are a significant cause of air and water pollution.
66
Letter to Smt. J. Geeta Reddy, Tourism Minister, Andhra Pradesh on Concerns about the proposed Sea Cruise from Vizag to Andaman
Promoting increased connectivity to the islands without attention to climate change impacts on
the Islands is a short sighted strategy.
In a joint research study in 2008 (in collaboration with INTACH, Society for Andaman and Nicobar
Ecology, Kalpavriksh, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and, Action Aid) on the impacts of tourism
on the ecologically and geologically sensitive Islands, highlighted many concerns related to unplanned
tourism. The research ‘Rethink Tourism in the Andamans – Towards Building a Base for Sustainable
Tourism’ shows how current ways of developing tourism has failed to take into consideration the
aspirations of the local communities and is causing environmental problems on the islands. There is an
urgent need to ensure environmentally sound practises for the preservation of Andaman’s ecology.
We urge you to read this report that is enclosed along with this letter.
The IP & T department is quite aware of the study. We also have copied in this letter Shri. Bishnu Pada
Ray, MP from Andaman & Nicobar Islands as we are very glad to note he has raised very pertinent
questions on the nature of tourism in the Islands in the first session of the Parliament in June 2009.
We therefore think it is essential that the promotion of cruise tourism be reconsidered owing to its
negative environmental and economic impacts on the Andaman and Nicobar islands in light of the
problems already existing on the Islands.
Sincerely,
Rosemary Viswanath
Chief Functionary
Enclosed
O AP proposes sea cruise from Vizag to Andaman’, Business Standard, 16 June 2009, 1 copy
O Rethink Tourism in the Andamans –Towards Building a Base for Sustainable Tourism, 1 CD
O Note on Cruise Tourism.
CC To
O Shri. Bishnu Pada Ray, MP, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, New Delhi.
O Shri. Binay Bhushan, Director, IP & T (Tourism Division), Andaman and Nicobar Islands
O Shri. G. G. Saxena, Secretary, IP & T (Tourism Division), Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Enclosure 1
Source <http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ap-proposes-sea-cruisevizag-to-andaman/
361153/>
AP proposes sea cruise from Vizag to Andaman
BS Reporter / Chennai/ Hyderabad June 16, 2009, 0:24 IST
The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) is exploring the possibility of
introducing a cruise from Visakhapatnam to Andaman and Nicobar islands to attract more tourists,
according to tourism minister J Geeta Reddy.
APTDC would buy a cruise ship that could accommodate about 100 tourists. Though the project was
proposed last year, it made no progress.
Geeta Reddy said the newly approved Cruise Tourism Policy had opened up huge potential for cruise
tourism. APTDC would be the first tourism body to introduce a luxury sea cruise liner.
Enclosure 2
Note on Cruise Tourism
We are reproducing herein some of the findings and recommendations from our study of tourism and
its impacts in the Andamans Islands and our analysis of cruise tourism based on experiences of
cruise tourism industry in the Caribbean islands.
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
68
Letter to Smt. J. Geeta Reddy, Tourism Minister, Andhra Pradesh on Concerns about the proposed Sea Cruise from Vizag to Andaman
O Cruise Tourism directly competes with local land-based tourism establishments, often to the
detriment of the latter. This is due to
X Direct benefits that cruise tourism brings to the local economies is lesser than land-based
tourism as cruise ships use local resources and employ local people to a lesser degree than
land based activities do.
X Cruises usually operate as package tours which provide the entire tourism experience of the
destination on board the ship itself including shopping for local handicrafts and souvenirs,
tasting the local cuisine and experiencing the local art and culture. This severely constrains
tourists from touring the actual destination physically and through this limits their
financial contribution to the local economy. Even if the ship docks and tourists are allowed to
explore the area, this is usually limited to the port area only.
X Their economic power has also enabled cruise ships to benefit from perpetrating false myths
among passengers about the safety of the destination and thereby encouraging them to continue
staying aboard. Some authors elucidate the point by highlighting that the major revenue-earner
for cruise ships is on-board revenues that approximate US $ 300 per passenger per day. In order
to increase the same, cruise ships were allowed to open bars, casinos and shops while they
remained docked. Caribbean Cruise companies also provide unique products to their
customers by taking them to ‘fantasy islands’, which are off limits for everybody but their
passengers and crew. The oligopolistic structure of the industry has also limited the ability of
small local entrepreneurs to make inroads into the mammoth billion-dollar industry and gain
meaningfully from it. Three giants – Royal Caribbean, Carnival Corporation and Princess had a
combined revenue figure of US $ 11.5 million in 2002 indicating the extent of monopoly profits
made. Additionally, cruise ships also result in large expenses for the government exchequer to
provide adequate port infrastructure.
O There is also now growing evidence to support the fact that alongside the Caribbean’s growing
cruise ship industry is the problem of unsightly and hazardous pollution mounting on sea
floors, in harbours and in coastal areas. Most pollution occurs because of the legal or illegal
dumping of waste by ships into ocean waters, which are then carried by strong winds to
the shores of islands. In a smaller portion but equally harmful is the pollution that ships cause at
harbours and coastal areas while docked. International cruise ship pollution is governed by the
MARPOL (Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and other Matter) Protocol while ocean
dumping of waste is controlled by the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by
Dumping of Wastes and other Materials that permits ships to dump shredded glass and tin
and treat food waste into the oceans. But although most cruises are registered in countries
that are signatories to these international conventions, few ships actually have installed technology
to treat their wastes aboard before dumping them into the sea.
O Another interesting point to note is that even though governments are aware of the magnitude of the
problem, most Caribbean countries themselves are not signatories to these conventions. This is
because, the attempt to clean up the ocean, has also put extra strain on land-based facilities
of islands and countries are aware that signing MARPOL would oblige them to set up waste disposal
mechanisms on land to treat the wastes brought in by ships. In parallel, Cruise ships can mitigate
the problem by following a ‘Zero Discharge’ policy, but most are hesitant to execute this as this would
involve losing out valuable room space on board the ship to install treatment plants. The cruise ship
industry is also clear that even if it might make financial contributions towards waste disposal mechanisms
on shore, there would be no commitment for the inevitable transportation to and management of
landfills, or technical support to deal with other waste management concerns.
O Regulating cruise ship pollution is further impeded by the ambiguity concerning the
registration of many liners. This complicates matters as many cruise ships choose to
register or flag their ships outside their country of origin in order to take advantage of tax
incentives and cheaper labour for their crew. Such ambiguity over registration makes penalisation
difficult in cases where the law has held the ships guilty of polluting waters. Against this context,
the government needs to re-think its cruise tourism strategy and ensure the environmental
and economic sustainability of it as a model for local development through tourism.
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This is our letter to Shri. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State, Ministry of Environment & Forests,
demanding transparency and public access in environment clearance process. Media reports that
the MoEF revamped its website in July 2009 to improve transparency in the environment clearance
process. Reasons raised are: unavailability of environmental clearance letters of projects cleared by
the Ministry, data deficiency on ‘new construction projects and industrial estates’ project category on
MoEF’s revamped website as on July 2009, no data on projects denied environmental clearance and
inaccurate listing of projects cleared.
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Letter for Improving Availability of Information on Environmental Clearance Letters on the MoEF Website
these projects all that is displayed are one-line statements such as, ‘this project has been approved’
or ‘null’ or ‘project cleared’ or ‘there is no letter’.
On accessing all project categories, the year wise listing of the projects is inaccurate and not according
to the year in which clearances were applied for or granted. Also, much of the data prior to the year
2004 is missing.
The website does not provide any listing of projects that were denied environmental clearance. This
information was available on the Ministry’s website before it was revamped in July 2009. For ensuring
transparency, it is equally important to provide information on projects that were denied a clearance
by the Ministry and to put their letters stating the reasons for denial on the website.
Due to all the above problems in the website it is extremely difficult to find any appropriate data. We
request you to look into these problems and ensure the promised transparency.
Sincerely,
Shweta Narayan
Programme Associate
Enclosed
1. Business Line, Environmental clearance process made more transparent, 21 July 2009.
2. Response to Question number 1682, Rajya Sabha, 20th July 2009.
Copy to
1. Shri. Vijai Sharma, Secretary, MoEF
Enclosure no. 1
Environmental Clearance Process Made More Transparent
Business Line, Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jul 21, 2009
Our Bureau
New Delhi, July 20 The Ministry of Environment and Forests has decided to put information regarding
the clearance process on its Web site to increase transparency of the process.
Information relating to status of pending projects, schedule and agenda of the meeting of Expert Appraisal
Committees (EAC), minutes of the EAC meeting, environmental clearance letters, and circulars and
guidelines relating to Environmental Clearance would be available on the Ministry Web site.
The Minister of Environment and Forests, Mr Jairam Ramesh, also told Parliament that the Lower
Painganga Project in Maharashtra was accorded the environmental and in-principle forest clearance
in May 2007 and February 2009 respectively.
He added that two Special Economic Zone (SEZ) projects are awaiting environment clearance from
Gujarat. For the “PhaEZ Park” SEZ project requisite information had been received and proposal
would be included in the Expert Appraisal Committee for New Construction Projects and Industrial
Estates meeting scheduled to be held in August 2009. The SEZ project at Dahej is yet to submit the
site map, including areas falling under the Coastal Regulation Zone.
Source:
Business Line, ‘Environmental clearance process made more transparent’,
<http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/07/21/stories/2009072151741500.htm>, 21st July 2009.
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Enclosure no. 2
Government of India
Ministry of Environment and Forests
Rajya Sabha
Question no 1682
Answered on 20.07.2009
Answer
Minister Of State (Independent Charge) For Environment & Forests
(Shri Jai Ram Ramesh)
(a) & (b) Ministry in the past, received some communications from NGOs complaining about the
violation of rules regarding matters such as non-implementation of conditions stipulated in the
environment clearance letter, non adherence to the prescribed standards, change in scope of the
project and change of project location. The complaints regarding violations are duly examined and
wherever necessary, site inspections are got conducted through the Regional Offices of this Ministry
as also the Central / State / Union Territory Pollution Control Boards. Inputs from the respective State
Governments are also obtained whenever required. The matters like those relating to change of
scope of the project or change of location, any complaints received before the grant of Environment
Clearance (EC) are referred to the Expert Appraisal Committees for obtaining their recommendations
before taking a decision.
(c) & (d) In order to increase transparency in the clearance process, the information has been put in
public domain, through the website of the Ministry, relating to
(i) status of pending projects,
(ii) schedule and agenda of the meeting of Expert Appraisal Committees (EACs),
(iii) minutes of the EAC meeting,
(iv) Environmental Clearance letters and
(v) circulars, guidelines, instructions relating to Environmental Clearance.
Source: <http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/>
72
Letter to Smt. Mamata Banerjee, Minister
of Railways Against Railway’s plan on
exclusive coaches for foreigners
2 November 2009
The Economic Times, dated 27.10.09 and Times of India, Bangalore edition, dated 29.10.09 reported
that the Ministry of Railways plans to add exclusive coaches for foreign tourists in normal trains. The
idea of ‘exclusive’ coaches for foreigners, in our opinion, is deep rooted in imperialism, racism and
casteism. We do not object to better facilities in general, but object to exclusive facilities on the basis
of nationality and citizenship.
Kumari Mamata Banerjee
Minister of Railways
Rail Bhavan,
1 Raisina Road
New Delhi- 110001
Sub: Railway’s plan on exclusive coaches for foreigners
Ref: “To earn more revenue, railways plan exclusive coaches for foreigners”, Economic Times 27.10.09
and Times of India dated 29.10.09
Dear Madam,
We learn from media reports in Economic Times, dated 27.10.09 and Times of India, Bangalore
edition, dated 29.10.09 that the Ministry of Railways plans to add exclusive coaches for foreign tourists
in normal trains (news article enclosed with this letter). According to the news report Shri
Shuvaprasanna, Chairman Public Amenities Committee, Ministry of Railways, Government of India,
is quoted as saying “the railway ministry was very positive to the committee’s recommendation”.
Madam, we are deeply shocked at this proposal.
To introduce ourselves, EQUATIONS, is a research, advocacy, and campaigning organisation working
since 1985 on the impacts of tourism, particularly in terms of rights and benefits to local communities.
We envision tourism that is non-exploitative, sustainable, where decision-making is democratised
and access to and benefits of tourism are equitably distributed. www.equitabletourism.org
The idea of ‘exclusive’ coaches for foreigners, in our opinion, is deep rooted in imperialism, racism
and casteism. Is the present government and your Ministry taking our country back to the colonial-era
when such exclusive spaces for the British ruling class had boards like ‘No Indians and Dogs allowed’.
The Ministry of Railways seems to have forgotten about how the ‘Father of the Nation’, Mahatma
Gandhi had decided to fight the colonial forces on experiencing similar discrimination on a train in
South Africa. In 1893, Gandhiji booked a first-class train ticket to Johannesburg – and was thrown out
of the coach because he was black. Today, when the country still struggles to ensure that millions of
its citizens have protection against various forms of discrimination still prevalent in large measure in
the country – the most prominent basis being caste, religion, gender and minority status - this step by
the Ministry of Railways is retrograde and shameful. We are not objecting to better facilities in general,
we are objecting to exclusive facilities on the basis of nationality and citizenship. We believe that such
a move can even be challenged constitutionally.
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If foreign tourists wish to experience India, we think they should experience the real India – not spaces
that are “sanitised from reality” and where the citizens of the country have no access! What kind of
vision of Incredible India is this?
We urge the Ministry to reverse this move with immediate effect.
Sincerely,
Rosemary Viswanath
Chief Functionary
EQUATIONS
Copied to
O Kumari Selja , Minister of Tourism
O Shri Mukul Balkrishna Wasnik, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
74
Letter to Editor Times of India
Against “Railways Plan Exclusive
Coaches for Foreigners”
4 November 2009
The Editor,
Times of India
40/1, S&B Towers
MG Road (Near Barton Centre)
Bangalore 560 001
Sub: Letter to Minister of Railways against “Railways plan exclusive coaches for Foreigners” as was
reported in your news paper, Times of India, Bangalore Edition, Dated 28th October 09, Page 13.
Dear Madam/Sir,
This is to bring to your notice that we have sent a protest letter to Kumari Mamata Banerjee, Minister
of Railways, Government of India against the proposed plan of the Ministry of Railway to add
exclusive coaches for foreigners in normal trains. This was based on the news article “Railways
plan exclusive coaches for Foreigners” as was reported in your news paper, Times of India, Bangalore
Edition, Dated 28th October 09, Page 13. The letter (a Xerox copy of the same) is attached herewith
for our perusal.
EQUATIONS, is a research, advocacy, and campaigning organisation working since 1985 on the
impacts of tourism, particularly in terms of rights and benefits to local communities. We envision
tourism that is non-exploitative, sustainable, where decision-making is democratised and access to
and benefits of tourism are equitably distributed. www.equitabletourism.org
The Ministry of Railways should reverse this move with immediate effect. We hope Times of India
Group will take firm stand against the proposal and build public opinion against any such move by the
Ministry of Railways.
Sincerely,
Ananya Dasgupta
Programme Coordinator
Governance, Law and Tourism Programme
EQUATIONS
Enclosed: The Letter to Kumari Mamata Banerjee, Minister of Railways, Government of India, dated
02.11.09.
Copied to: Editor, Economic Times with reference to the news item “To earn more revenue, rlys plan
exclusive coaches for foreigners” in Economic Times, dated 27 th October 09, http://
economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5166782.cms.
75
Working Paper Series 2009–2010
76
Letter on Environmental Impacts of the Proposed and Initiated Tourism Developments at the Sardar Sarovar Dam
and local community for access to and use of natural resources increases. As the industry is bigger
and more powerful it is usually vulnerable local communities that bear the ‘costs’ of such
‘development’.
Tourism projects like golf courses, water parks are known to be infrastructure and resource use
heavy. These are known to cause significant ground water depletion and pollution of water tables.
Leisure and recreational activities such as those promoted in this area are also known to cause
environmental damage, noise pollution, huge amounts of non-degradable waste when tourist numbers
exceed carrying capacity of the sites. This sadly is a common enough feature of almost every popular
tourism site in our country. Therefore unless waterfront resorts, island restaurants, water sports,
houseboats, cruises and adventure activities in the reservoir are regulated they can have significant
negative impacts on the ecology.
Thus our concerns are several:
1. Tourism is being planned and implemented without taking into account the rights, livelihood and
displacement of local communities.
2. The nature of tourism products planned are infrastructure and resource heavy and do not seem to
consider their significant adverse environmental impacts. There is no evidence of prior assessment
of such impacts.
3. There is no evidence of studying and understanding the carrying capacity / limits of acceptable
change in terms of number of tourists visiting the region.
4. The concentration / density of the various tourism products offered within a small area will also
add to the negative environmental impacts.
Many of our concerns and suggestions come from our work on tourism impacts in different parts of
the country. However in particular we would like to draw your attention to research Public Purpose
which is enclosed. While we have highlighted in this letter to you some of the concerns related to
environmental issues our research covers many critical areas of human rights, participation of local
community and the role of panchayats. This report is also available in Gujarati and Hindi (available on
our website www.equitabletourism.org).
We do hope that you will consider our inputs. We would be happy to respond to any queries /
clarifications.
Sincerely,
Aditi Chanchani
Coordinator Programmes
Enclosed
1. EQUATIONS (2008), ‘Public Purpose?’
2. EQUATIONS (2009), Public Purpose? Update – March 2009
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
This is our letter to Shri. Senthil Vel, Additional Director, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF),
demanding that proceedings on Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZM) should stop
until the public consultations on Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification are completed. The
public consultations were started by the MoEF to strengthen the CRZ Notification following the lapse
of the draft Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) Notification, 2008. The MoEF had invited public
comments on the Draft Summary Report of (ICZM) Project to be piloted in three states of Gujarat,
Orissa and West Bengal.The backdoor entry of the ICZM is unethical.
Dr. A. Senthil Vel,
Additional Director,
Ministry of Environment & Forests,
Paryavaran Bhavan, New Delhi.
Sub: Comments on the Draft Summary Report of the World Bank Assisted Integrated Coastal Zone
Management Project Environment & Social Assessment
Dear Dr. Senthil,
Greetings from EQUATIONS!
We are deeply concerned on the move by the Ministry of Environment & Forests to go ahead in
building national capacity for implementation of the new integrated management approach for India’s
coastal zones and piloting the Integrated Coastal Zone Management ICZM) approach in three states
of Gujarat, Orissa and West Bengal.
The very concept of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) was pushed in the terms of reference
given to Dr. Swaminathan Committee which was constituted by MoEF in July 2004 to review the
reports of various committees appointed by the MoEF on coastal zone management, international
practises and suggest the scientific principles for an integrated coastal zone management best suited
for the country. Based on this Dr. Swaminathan Committee recommended for the integrated coastal
zone management approach in February 2005. The draft Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) Notification,
2008 which again mooted the idea of ICZM was then widely critiqued by associations, movement and
networks of coastal community and civil society organisations, fish workers forum, academic
organisations and UN agencies on its claims of being scientific and trying to infuse scientific aspects
in coastal protection with integrated coastal zone management processes.
After the Ministry lapsing the draft CMZ notification on 22nd July 2009 and holding consultations for
strengthening the existing CRZ notification, the push for the implementation of ICZM projects through
back door is unethical. We understand from the World Bank website that the idea of this project was
initiated in 2007 itself.
We are enclosing our comments on the Draft Summary Report of the World Bank Assisted Integrated
Coastal Zone Management Project Environment & Social Assessment while we urge you to stop any
proceedings on this project until the consultations on CRZ to strengthen it are through.
Sincerely,
Saroop Roy B.R.
EQUATIONS
78
Comments to MoEF On Draft Summary Report of the World Bank Assisted Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project
Comments to the Draft Summary Report of the World Bank Assisted Integrated Coastal
Zone Management Project Environment & Social Assessment
28.12.2009
This brief paper is our comments to the Ministry of Environment and Forests on the Draft Summary
Report of the World Bank Assisted Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project’ Environment and
Social Assessment.
The Central government move to build national capacity for implementation of the new integrated
management approach for India’s coastal zones and piloting the Integrated Coastal Zone Management
(ICZM) approach in the three states of Gujarat, Orissa and West Bengal is dubious with the draft
Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) Notification lapsing in 2009. The concept of Integrated Coastal
Zone Management Plan was mooted in the draft CMZ Notification. Civil society groups have raised
concerns on the CMZ notification and the need to strengthen the existing CRZ notification. Point no.
8 of the draft summary of the World Bank assisted ICZM says the ‘GoI has already initiated steps
to operationalize one part of the agenda, which is to create a suitable policy environment for
integrated management of coastal and marine area’. Allowing commercial activities in the coast and
then manage them is in sharp conflict to the philosophy of CRZ Notification, conservation of the coast.
Although the MoEF has allowed the lapse of the proposed CMZ notification, the process to strengthen
the existing CRZ notification by taking in the concerns of the coastal communities, initiated by the
MoEF is yet to be completed in all the proposed 10 states. Then the need for ICZM projects in pilot
states for replication at national level is contradictory.
Project Description
Mapping, delineation and demarcation of hazard line: The hazard line proposed here is to be determined
on the basis of vulnerability of the coast to sea level rise, coastal erosion and flooding, and thus bears
similarity to the setback line proposed in the draft CMZ Notification. Therefore it is not definite and will
vary from place to place even within Panchayat limits. ‘Multi stakeholder opinions on setback lines
raised in various consultations on CMZ should also be addressed by the MoEF, before demarcation of
the hazard lines’. In the stakeholder meetings conducted by CEE (9th August 2008) on behalf of
MoEF in Tamil Nadu, concerns of setback line overtaking rights of local Panchayats were raised. It is
important to address these concerns to prevent violation of 73rd and 74th Amendment and usurpation
of rights bestowed on Local Self Governing Institutions. In Kerala Meeting 13 August 2008, Dr. N. R.
Menon had said “setback line, which is to be based on data of about 100 years, it should be noted that
the temperature in the tropics 100 years back was 4 degrees less. It is likely to increase by at least 4
degrees in another 100 years. Hence it will have to be reviewed periodically in view of the climate
change phenomenon and cannot be fixed permanently.” Over all the consultations have a common
demand, for taking into consideration the concerns of the local communities while deciding the setback
line. Moreover the Ministry of Agriculture has said that the definition of setback line is ambiguous and
therefore could easily be misinterpreted1 .
Mapping, delineation and demarcation, as required, of the ESAs: The report says that contiguous
areas containing ESAs within the coastal management zone will be designated as CRZ-I and MoEF
will assume the management responsibilities of the area. With the MoEF taking full control of the
planning, decision making and implementation of projects in the region, in the case of ESAs in forest
areas, the rights of the Grama Sabha passing resolution recommending whose rights to which resources
should be recognised granted through Forest Rights Act is apprehended.
Piloting ICZM approaches in Gujarat, West Bengal & Orissa
The pilot areas proposed for World Bank aided implementation of ICZM are in states of Gujarat,
Orissa and West Bengal. Interestingly these are also the states which are pushing for investment
led development by effecting changes to make investor friendly reforms and has already taken
financial aid from World Bank for different projects. The ICZM project seeks to use tourism also as
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tool to create livelihood opportunities for local communities. Interestingly, in West Bengal the state
government in this year has already commissioned the World Bank to undertake an ecotourism and
sustainable tourism potential assessment of Sundarbans National Park and surrounding areas to
develop an implementable tourism development plan within the World Bank’s social and environment
safeguards framework.
The pilot sites in the chosen states are not only eco-sensitive but also witnessing massive tourism
growth. For example Chilika in Orissa, Sunderbans in West Bengal. Therefore the question of choosing
these states and sites appears to be more investment oriented than of conservation. The map showing
ICZM Project India indicates that one of the targeted areas is in the border areas adjoining Orissa and
West Bengal. That is the area where Mandarmani is located - a coastal village that is experiencing a
surge in tourism investment since last few years. Rampant exploitation of the coast by the tourism
industry is evident from reports in the state and the state government have completely failed in stopping
any of these violations.
Through the ICZM project the government proposes to use ecotourism and tourism for providing
livelihood security to fisher communities. The proposal acknowledges (Point nos. 3 & 5), the detrimental
impacts of tourism and unplanned growth of tourism infrastructure on the coastal ecology such as
degradation of the coasts, conflicts amongst stakeholders and increase pressure on coastal areas.
However it again adopts tourism (small scale or ecotourism) to provide livelihood security to coastal
communities who are most vulnerable to not only developmental activities but also to effects of climate
change. Tourism is seasonal and vulnerable to external and internal impacts like disasters (tsunami,
earthquake) health epidemics like SARS or chikungunya, political tensions (riots and terror threats)
etc. In such circumstances, often it is the tourism initiatives by local people who are the first affected
either by a loss of employment or steep income reductions. In that case the role of the government will
be to put in efforts towards strengthening primary sources of income like fisheries and not promoting
tourism as a secured livelihood option. More over tourism is an industry that requires specialised
skills in marketing and its promotion and opening up sectors like tourism for the coastal communities
under the circumstances is not advisable.
There is also lack of clarity in the agency implementing livelihood security of the local communities in
West Bengal. There exists no such Corporation as “Sunderbans Development Corporation” as
mentioned in the report who is designated to undertake a pilot work in Shore line protection in southern
end of Sagar islands. The project is keen on establishing linkages with Development Corporations
and Development Authorities but not with local self governance institutions, except with Jamnagar
Municipal Corporation, at Jamnagar, Gujarat. The model of Development Authorities fits well with the
International Financial Institutions arguing for a centralised system towards administration of power
and decision making!
It proposes to ‘facilitate investment in financing conservation of the ecologically sensitive areas
over the current state of regulatory protection only’. With the statement we assume that the
government plans to introduce market driven conservation approach – ecotourism in these areas. It is
positive to note that the project questions the possibility of the ICZM resulting loss of livelihoods and
traditional access to coastal areas and marine resources. The ICZM seeks to secure livelihoods of
local communities by making planning of the ICZM a participatory process based on wide stakeholder
consultations. Consultations on environmental and social assessments with stakeholders in all 3
States have pointed out that ecotourism can lead to conflicts, air, noise and water pollution (oil spill
from boats) and biodiversity loss if not planned properly. They also highlight on a priority waste
management in ecotourism areas. Particularly in West Bengal ‘tourist accommodation and Waste
disposal system during festival periods is not managed properly now creating pollution’. The
question thus arise, is ecotourism a tool for conservation and livelihoods or additional pressure on
coastal ecosystems.
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Comments to MoEF On Draft Summary Report of the World Bank Assisted Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project
General comments
O Only the project summary is available on the MoEF website and not the entire report as said in the
notice. For public debate these should be made available on website and at regional government
offices for public access.
O A good point which is acknowledged by the project is that it supports strengthening of the existing
CRZ Notification, 1991.
O The Government of India recognising one of the three prime objectives of ICZM plans as to ensure
that livelihood of the coastal communities is secured is commendable.
O The project summary has taken into consideration only the consultations conducted by CEE on
behalf of MoEF till 2008 in different states. However other major public’s opposition to the CMZ
notification that resulted in the consequent lapse of the CMZ notification is not taken into
consideration.
O The management approach adopted by the ICZM is not in line with the existing regulatory framework
effected by the CRZ notification. Therefore the proposal of the MoEF to implement a project that is
based on the parameters of the lapsed CMZ notification is contrary to the MoEF’s decisions and
against larger opinions of the public.
You may reproduce this paper/publication in whole or in part for educational, advocacy or not-for-
profit purposes. We would appreciate acknowledging EQUATIONS as the source and letting us
know of the use.
Endnotes
1
Ministry of Environment and Forests (2009), ‘FINAL FRONTIER, Agenda to protect the ecosystem and habitat of India’s
coast for conservation and livelihood security’, Annexure III, Ministry of Environment and Forests, July 16, 2009, New
Delhi, Pg 33,draft Coastal Management Zone (CMZ).
<http://www.ceeindia.org/cee/pdf_files/Review%20Committee%20Report%20on%20CMZ.pdf > , data retrieved 23
December 2009.
2
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2009/11/19/stories/2009111954350200.htm
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Bangalore, India – India has the distinction of the largest number of working children in the world
today. As per International Labour Organization official statistics working children in India is about
12.6 million children.
Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in India and has received much impetus from the
government as it is seen as a major contributor to the economy. But close scrutiny reveals that tourism
has various social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts. Tourism by nature is resource
consumptive, both natural and human resource. The ban on employment of children in domestic and
hospitality sector imposed by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India in 2006 is
an acknowledgement of the fact that tourism as an industry has extensively exploited child labour.
Tourism and hospitality sector has been recognised as one of the hazardous sectors where children
should not be employed.
It is widespread to see children in the tourism sector working in abysmal conditions in small restaurants
and shacks, selling curios and trinkets in tourism areas and beaches, rag pickers, tourist guides, or
begging rich tourists for money. In hotels, children work as bell-boys, waiters and waitresses, maids,
house keeping workers while in catering, many are kitchen helpers or dish-washers or servers. Children
also work as masseurs and prostitutes. In the travel business they work as porters and coolies, cleaners
and assistants and for carrying loads on treks. Most of these children work in extremely difficult
working conditions. These children do not have protection for their long strained working hours which
is in most cases under unhealthy and dangerous conditions and also most often under intimidation.
This results in poor physical and psychological health of the children. Children involved in tourism
related work run extra risk of being sexually exploited due to constant exposure and involvement with
strangers, many of whom often frequent places with the intention of exploiting children. For instance,
children employed in roadside eateries and highway dhabas come in contact with both locals and
tourists. In the process they are exposed to sexual abuse and drug abuse and thereby highly vulnerable
to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS.
The Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment banned employment of children as
workers in roadside eateries, teashops, restaurants, hotels etc along with other sectors, to be effective
from October 2006. The Notification is recognition by the Government that child labour exists in these
sectors and these children are exploited sexually, physically and mentally. In addition to that some
states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have
come out with State Action Plans to eliminate child Labour. The question arises – have these plans
been implemented or they are just paper tigers? To take the example of Karnataka, the Action Plan to
Eliminate Child Labour in Karnataka 2002-2007 was brought in 2002. In 2008, the government of
Karnataka expressed their inability to implement the plan of action due to resource crunch and have
just extended the implementation period of the same plan to 2008-12. Therefore the question arises is
the government truly committed on this issue. When questioned the authorities both at the centre and
the state level showcases that the commitment of the government is shown from the fact that India is
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Press Release: Child Labour: An Ugly Face of Tourism Exploitation of Children Through Labour in Tourism
a signatory to three International Conventions related to child labour, namely, ILO Forced Labour
Convention (No. 29); ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (No. 105); UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC). Just ratification is meaningless unless government comes out with proper
policies to eradicate child labour and also implements it effectively.
It is important to mention that Government has also not ratified two important international conventions
on child labour of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). These conventions clearly specifies what
combating child labour should amount to in practice. These are the “Minimum Age Convention” (No.138)1
and the Convention on the “Worst Forms of Child Labour” (No. 182)2. These Conventions have been
jointly drafted in the ILO by national governments, employer’s associations and trade unions. The
government and industry are both therefore politically and morally obliged to implement them.
Research across the country has shown that keeping the age for child labour as 14 years should be
changed as India is a signatory to the UNCRC were we have agree the age of child to be upto 18
years. In India a child is defined differently in various legislations which create hindrance for the
implementation of the protection of children and for the convergence between the various Ministries
and Departments who are responsible to tackle the issue of child labour in the country.
Any move by the Government particularly in the context of the need for stern and defined measures
to stop exploitation of children has always been supported by the Civil Society Organizations in the
country. With respect to the implementation of this ban once again the government has failed to
demonstrate serious intent. In the name of effective implementation of the ban, children are picked
up from the streets, from small hotels, road side eateries and put in rehabilitation and juvenile homes.
Given the way these homes are run, they are not protected from abuse and exploitation. This does
nothing but the actual problem is pushed underground. It is important that the government has
implementable mechanisms where the children can be reunited with communities and families rather
than institutionalised mechanisms.
In Guruvayoor-Kerala and Tirupati-Andhra Pradesh and Puri-Orissa EQUATIONS research tilted
“Unholy Nexus: Male Child Sexual Exploitation in Pilgrim Tourism Sites in India: Andhra Pradesh,
Kerala and Orissa research done by EQUATIONS in collaboration with ECPAT INTERNATIONAL,
June 2008 published in March 2009” ‘shows that in order to be seen implementing the ban, children
are picked up from the streets, from small hotels, road side eateries and put them into rehabilitation
and juvenile homes. As a result, child abuse cases have become even more hidden and covert.
This ban is being seen as a tool by the government to curb the menace of child labour but does not
address the issues behind the problem. Inspite of recognizing the factor that poverty in the family in
most cases pushes the children to work, no measures have been taken to address this larger issue.
Even if a child is rescued and sent back to the family, actual rehabilitation can never take place unless
and until the poverty and thereby the means of livelihood for the family are not thought about and
taken care. The child is surely to be pushed back into work, in some other location and sector.
Thus, two and half years down the line, post the ban, enormous challenges remain in translating the
law into practice. The concerns expressed by many child rights activists that the blanket ban without
understanding the root causes of child labour would only push the problems into more dangerous
ways underground have unfortunately proved true. Available data and estimates indicate that very
few cases have been registered in the past year on account of this ban. Many children are still being
seen at work in restaurants, hotels, tea stalls, etc. all over the country. While the ban evoked responses
from a wide range of actors particularly NGO’s and civil society organisations working on child rights,
the Ministry of Tourism and the tourism industry have been silent spectators and kept conspicuously
silent to various forms of exploitation of children in tourism, including sexual exploitation of children
and exploitation of children through child labour.
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Working Paper Series 2009–2010
Way Ahead
Follow the Guidelines Issued By National Commission For Protection Of Child Rights On Abolition Of
Child Labour in 2008. This guideline states the provisions for Enforcement of law, Provision of
Education and Rehabilitation, Campaign and Public Awareness and Coordinated Action at all
Levels. The time has come that the policies and legislations are not only formulated but implemented
in right spirit and effectively. There is a need for all, government, Civil Society actors and the industry
to join hands to stop all forms of exploitation of children, including child labour. Unless the process is
initiated immediately, the deprivation and exploitation of the children will continue, resulting in lost of
our tomorrow and their today.
For further information:
S. Vidya, Programme Coordinator, Child & Tourism Programme, EQUATIONS, email
vidya.s@equitabletourism.org or info@equitabletourism.org, tel +91-80-25457607/25457659.
Endnotes
1
Convention No. 138 has been ratified by over 143 countries.
2
Convention No, 182 has been ratified by over 158 countries.
84
EQUATIONS is a research, advocacy and campaigning
organisation working since 1985 on the impacts of tourism
particularly in terms of rights and benefits to local
communities. We envision tourism that is sustainable & non
exploitative, where decision making is democratised and
Who Really Benefits from Tourism?
access to and benefits of tourism are equitably distributed.
EQUATIONS critique on tourism development