Birendra Mahato
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| Remnants of Gainda Wildlife Camp operated inside Chitwan National Park. Photo: Sanjib Chaudhary |
Discussions and preparations to generate income by operating a hotel within Chitwan National Park have started again. Even after the establishment of the park, 7 hotels were operated in it for about 30 years. History is a witness of the lack of support in the park's income and conservation due to the operation of those hotels.
What should not be forgotten is that many settlements there were forcibly removed to establish the park. Most of which were settlements of the main tribal Tharu community of Chitwan.
Any how the tribals are now living outside the park. After the hotels moved out of the park, around 10 five-star and more than 200 hotels are promoting tourism in Chitwan. The argument that a hotel must be kept inside the park for the expansion of tourism has faded from practice.
By displacing the Tharu tribals in the name of establishing a park, what is the contradiction of making a policy in the name of tourism and revenue growth on the ancestral lands of those tribals? If a hotel is to be operated inside the park, the government will first allow the displaced tribals to open a hotel after taking away their land? Definitely not.
Until 2050 years ago, three families including old Padampur resident Balsingh Chaudhary (father, uncle) had 120 bigha of land inside the park. Due to the government's wrong policy in the name of wildlife protection and park expansion, Balsingh's family got only 30 bighas of land in Naya Padampur (present-day Kalika Municipality). Since the establishment of the park, 30,000 to 35,000 people have been relocated here many times.
From Koshi in Terai to Shuklaphanta, up to one lakh tribals have been relocated from the settlements inside the park. The indigenous Tharu, who have been living in the Terai since ancient times, were displaced from their ancestral lands in the name of establishing a park and in the name of the Raptidun project. They are now living like refugees in their own land.
President Ramchandra Paudel approved a bill on 24 June 2081 in the National Park which was built by displacing the Tharu, Bote, Musahar, Kumals. National priority project, investment in any area within national park, reserve or conservation area or intermediate area in order to maintain nature and human coexistence, except for the area specified in section 5 a of section 6, sub-section 1 of the 'National Parks and Wildlife Protection Act 2029 Amendment' Act. It has been added that the government of Nepal can give approval as prescribed to conduct projects approved by the board or projects of national pride. This means that the way is being opened to open a tourist hotel within the park.
The history of the park
Established in 1872, America's 'Yellow Stone National Park' is the first national park in the world. One hundred years later, in 1973, the first national park of Nepal was established - Chitwan National Park. It should not be different from the imitation of 'Yellow Stone Park' here as well. Just as in America the concept was that no habitations and domestic animals should be allowed inside the park, the same was applied here. However, before the establishment of the park, the tribal Tharu, Bote, Musahar, Kumal communities living here were not studied in detail, nor were they treated humanely.
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| Rapti River flows by the Chitwan National Park. Photo: Sanjib Chaudhary |
Rampreet Yadav, a member of Chitwan Park's survey team and Chitwan National Park's founding conservation officer, says he learned about wildlife conservation from the Tharus. "At first, we only read how to protect plants in books, while working in the park during the beginning, we learned how to protect wildlife from the Tharu tribals, and later, their knowledge and skills greatly helped in the protection of the park," he says.
Before the establishment of the park, thousands of tribals lived here. Cows were allowed to graze, wood needed to build houses and bote-musahar were open to fish in the river. As the main occupation of the Tharu community is agriculture, they used the area as pasture for cattle rearing.
According to Jit Bahadur Chaudhary, a resident of Padampur, there were about 300 cows and 50-60 buffaloes in his house alone. He says that after the establishment of the park, all the cattle were sold because they could not find a place to graze them. Since it was not easy for the Tharus to do agriculture without property, the rules of the park greatly affected their lives.
The Tharu were not the only ones making noise inside the park. In winter, a large amount of cattle and buffaloes were brought from the Indian settlements across the border to graze. Cattle brought from there were often kept near the Narayani river bank. At present, the new tourist area of Meghauli is called Golaghat because people who come from India to graze cattle live in the famous place.
In India, people who graze cattle are also called Gola. Before the establishment of the park, there were 20 percent grasslands in the park area as it was a grazing area of Nepal-India as well. Lakes and wetlands within the park were being protected due to the construction of a channel for irrigation of crops from the Churia area.
The adivasis who have been living since ancient times have made a great contribution to the protection of forests. Their role is important in grassland management, wetland conservation, wild animal conservation within the park. Their traditional knowledge played a major role in this work. Grasslands and water resources needed by wild animals were protected by Tharu through traditional knowledge and skills.
During the time when they were protecting the forest, the number of one-horned rhinos was very high in the park. In 1950, almost two and a half decades before the establishment of the park, the number of rhinos was more than 800, according to the records of the park department. But even after 50 years of the establishment of the park, the number of rhinos has not reached the same level as when the Tharus protected it.
Before the establishment of the park, it was customary to hunt tigers, rhinoceros, etc. in the forest of Chitwan by the royal family of Nepal, the Rana family and foreigners or British royal families. In this way hundreds of wild animals were hunted in the park every year. Even during the game of hunting, the same Tharu suffered. Every year when the royal family came to hunt, a road had to be prepared for their vehicles to pass smoothly. The Tharus used their own resources and tools to build a 65 km road from Hetaunda to Chitwan for months.
Not only that, rice and khasi should be provided free from all Tharu villages for the food of 100-200 soldiers during the hunt. Looking at the history of the park, it seems that the Tharus were working to protect wildlife, while the then rulers and the British royal family continued to hunt tigers and rhinos. How unfair would it be to call those tribal Tharus anti-conservation now?
About 22,000 people who migrated from the hills were relocated around 1962 during the establishment of the park, while 3-4,000 Tharu and Bote were removed from the Madi area. Around 1973, Kumal village was shifted from Sukibhar and the rest outside the park by 2000–2010.
In 1962, when the Khutuwa, Kachuhani and Raptidun programs were over, when the new people from the hills were removed from the park, the tribal Tharus did not want to leave their land, relatives, friends and go to a place where there are no farming facilities. However, those who came from the hills easily moved to another location. The Tharus refused to move out of the park. For that, their house was demolished by the park administration with elephants and army. In this way, the Tharus who did not want to go to Thori were forced to take shelter outside the park or with their relatives who lived in intermediate areas. That is, those tribals were forced to live as refugees in the land where they were born.
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| Shree Jankauli Bufferzone Forest Users Group Office. Photo: Sanjib Chaudhary |
Tribals who lost their ownership
People who migrated from the hills after the eradication of malaria got free land outside the park. However, the Tharus, who had been settled since ancient times, were made squatters by the Nikunja rules. The settlement of the Tharus was an advanced and cultivated land before the construction of the park. There was also an irrigation facility for farming in that place. In the name of Raptidun program, in 1954-1962, the land outside Nikunj and the land cultivated by the Tharus were distributed to the people from the hills. After that, there was no arable land left anywhere outside the park.
Before the large-scale migration from the hills, all areas of Chitwan were dominated by Tharus. Now they are named only for inclusion in the political and administrative spheres, their ownership in decisions is almost nil.
Until 1962, the idea that a park should be built in Nepal was not developed. It was only a decade later that Chitwan National Park was established. After that, the village management initiative started within the park. Until then, the arable land had been distributed to the people from the hills. Most of the Tharus became landless when they refused to transfer the villages inside the park to thori. Their life as a refugee began in their own sweaty place. Even after tolerating such excesses, the state is not ready to accept the Tharu community as a stakeholder in the park protection.
Chitwan National Park was established by forcing thousands of Tharus to leave their ancestral home. However, the government and international organizations working in the field of conservation are not ready to accept the contribution made by the same Tharus for the conservation of the park.
- Conservationist Birendra Mahato Tharu is the founding chairman of the Cultural Museum and Research Centre, Sauraha.
Republished from Kantipur with the author's permission.
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