Tiger Trust News
News:-1
Legal Training at Various National Park
The Tiger
Trust and its Honorary Secretary was invited to deliver a lecturer on the
legal aspects of wildlife protection Act by the Indira Gandhi National Forest
academy Dehradun in the Month of Jan, March & May 2005.
In Jan 2006 the trust further held a camp in Ranthambore National Park for
imparting legal education and field experience to the Forest rangers and Deputy
Forester.
On 16th March 2006 the Tiger trust in association with WWF India organized
the 11th Kailash Sankhala Memorial Lecturer as a tribute to Padamashree Kailash
Sankhala,the First Director of Project Tiger. Dr. M.S. Swami Nathan Director
of M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation who is an eminent scientist and largely
responsible for the Green Revolution in India was the keynote Speaker. Ms.
Anjana Gosai, Seceretary of Tiger Trust, has Performed role as a Principal Trainer
in all these Training.
On 21st March 2006,Tiger trust has organised a Big Painting Competion for
the awareness in the children in Tala as well as Bandhavgarh National Park.
Ms. Anjana Gosain, Seceretary of Tiger Trust, has Performed role as a Principal
Trainer in all these Training.
News:-2
In an exclusive interview with 
Anjana Gosain, Secretary, Tiger Trust
To preserve the
wilderness, India has set aside over 1.2 million square km in 525 protected
areas as national parks, sanctuaries and protected reserves. However, this is
only 3.6 per cent of lend area where human population is exceeding 800 million
and thereby exerting excessive pressure on natural resources.
To meet the growing
challenges in conservation and to enhance environmental awareness of the people
through educational and research programmes, Tiger Trust was instituted. This
national level non-governmental organisation was set up in 1989 by the
late Kailash Sankhala, Padma Shree, founder director of Project Tiger.
Shedding more light on the organisation, Gosain said, "Since the tiger
is the spirit of the Indian Jungle and the founder was closely associated with
its revival, he chose to call the foundation - Tiger Trust."
Elaborating further, she said that the trust works on nature conservation, creating
awareness and imparting education. This New Delhi based organisation has also
established Kailash Sankhala Conservation Centers near Kanha National Park and
Bandhavgarh National Park where the trust works closely with local communities,
park authorities, state governments and other organisations. In the urban areas,
the organisation has a very active 'Save the Tiger' campaign involving school
and college students, professionals and corporate houses. Gosain also added
that the organisation had recently bagged several accolades for achievements
in tiger protection. "The trust has won a couple of cases recently and
thus becomes one of the pioneer organisations in the country to book culprits
under the Wildlife Protection Act. Achievements include several seizures of
tiger bones, skins and arrest of poachers, " she said.
Pointing out to the connection between tiger protection and tourism promotion,
Gosain said that the country can be a leader in tiger tourism if the tiger conservation
programme is successful. "India is the hub for tigers and people from all
over the world come here to have a look at this majestic animal. Proper tiger
protection would definitely ensure a boost in tourism, which would in turn benefit
both the species and the country," she said emphatically.
News:-3
National level workshop on Wildlife (Protection) Act 
New Delhi, March
13, 2004: A national level workshop was organized by Tiger Trust at the WWF-
India
Auditorium in New Delhi on the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and its amendments.
World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) and Tiger Foundation Canada were
the co-organizers. It was organized under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment
& Forests, Govt. of India.
Wildlife Lawyers, members of the judiciary, officials from the Ministry of Environment
& Forests, representatives from the Central Bureau of Investigation, WWF-India
officials and environmental activists participated in the day-long workshop.
Each section of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 was discussed and further
scope for amendments was deliberated. Dr. Vinod Rishi, Addl. Director General
Forests (Wildlife) observed that the existing Act needed to be made more simple
and user-friendly.
Ms. Anjana Gosain,
Senior Lawyer and Honurary Secretary, Tiger Trust conducted the proceeding.
Among the participants were Mr. Justice (Rtd.)
A. B. Saharya, former Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court, Dr.
Vinod Rishi,Addl. DG Forests (Wildlife),
Mr.
Anil Verma, Addl. Sessions Judge, District of Umaria, Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Ravi
Singh, CEO & Secretary General of WWF-India and Mr. P. K. Sen, Director,
Tiger Conservation
Programme, WWF-India. Among the participating NGOs Wildlife Protection Society
of India, Corbett Foundation and Ranthambore Foundation were present. The Central
Bureau of Investigation was also represented. Mr. Raj Panjwani, Mr. A. D. N.
Rao, Mr. D. S. Chauhan, Mr. Rajesh Narula and Mr. S. K. Singla were among the
prominent lawyers from the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi.
A panel was formed to formulate a recommendation for further amendment in the
existing Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The recommendations have been formally
submitted before the Government of India.
News:- 4
Free Medical Check-up and General Health Camp
Bandhavgarh National Park, March 4, 2004: Health has been the foremost necessity
in the villages around the Bandhavgarh National Park. The health system is in
such a deplorable condition that there is not even a single doctor for the 77
villages of the Buffer Area of Bandhavgarh National Park.
In order to complement the duties of the government agencies, Tiger Trust has
been continuously organizing health camps in the neighboring villages of Bandhavgarh
Tiger Reserve. One such camp was held in village Samarkuini located at the eastern
border of the park.
Samarkuini was selected after much deliberation for its suitable location, as
it in situated almost in the center of a cluster of the Villages. About 13-14
villages surround Samarkuini.
Before the health camp an intensive publicity campaign was launched to make
people know about it. Announcements on loud speakers were made from village
to village and publicity pamphlets were distributed. Co-operation of local social
workers was sought to make the camp a success.
On 4th of March when the health team of Tiger Trust led by the doctors arrived
at the campsite, i.e., Panchayat Bhawan of Village Samarkuini, they found a
large member of villagers already waiting eagerly for them.
Dr. Vinay Jain (MBBS) and Dr. Ms. Rashmi Dhananjay voluntarily offered their
valuable services for the camp. About 230 people were examined and about 190
people were dispensed with free medicines after primary check-up. Dr. Vinay
Jain examined mainly the male patients while Dr. Rashmi Dhananjay kept herself
busy with the female and children.
According to these physicians the percentage of the diseases in the region is
slightly higher that the rest of the neighbouring area. They observed that anemia,
calcium deficiency, fungal infection in women, scabies, cough/cold and eyesores
were the most common diseases found among people. Children suffer mostly from
worms in stomachs, which hinder their proper growth and development. Malnutrition
is a common factor that leads to different ailments and diseases.
Samarkuini was selected after much deliberation for its suitable location, as
it in situated almost in the center of a cluster of the Villages. About 13-14
villages are surrounded by Samarkuini.
News:-5
School Children visit the Park with Tiger Trust 
Bandhavgarh National Park, Feb 27, 2004: During the awareness campaign conducted
by the Tiger Trust various schools in the vicinity of Bandhavgarh National Park,
it was realized that the children don't even know the importance of wild animal
and tigers in the eco-system. They are unaware of the conservation efforts,
which are being done for the ecological balance; apart from it they have a very
negative image in their mind regarding the National Park.
The village people as well as their children had this conception that the National
Park was meant only for the rich and foreigners - an area that they were unconcerned
with. Coming of loads of revelers has no meaning to them.
This was a wrong signal hovering in the mind of the local people. Such notion
might be a major obstacle to the conservation efforts and may retard the progress
in the field.
To make a positive image of the park and to make these people and children aware
of the conservation work and its importance, Tiger Trust has been organizing
park visits for the school children of the neighbouring villages.
Fourth such park visit of the season was organized on Feb. 27th 2004 with the
school children and teachers of Govt. Middle School, Kuchwahi. The students,
between 8 to 14 years of age were informed a day in advance so that they could
be ready and prepared to visit the Park first time in their life. Children were
very eager to see wild animals. They had hitherto seen herbivores like, deer,
sambhars, in their villages and fields but not the magnificent tiger. Warm welcome
awaited the Tiger Trust team when it went to pick up the children from their
school. There were 40 students from various classes between 3rd and 8th standards.
The visit started at about 3.00 p.m. and soon sighted two huge healthy and fully-grown
sambhars. After sometime a herd of spotted deer was located at Siddha Baba.
On our way to Shesh Shayya the students located peacocks and a jungle fox. At
Shesh Shayya the students bowed before an ancient statue of Lord Vishnu, the
God of preservation. While returning, two wild boars crossed our way just ahead
of the Gypsies we were riding.
Our search for the big cat was on. On our way to Susiyaree we spotted a white-neck
stork sitting on a water hole concentrating for its prey.
But the climax reached in Susiyaree where we got to know that a grown up cub
was sitting under the bushes. We waited there for about an hour, and then got
the chance to see the magnificent creature. The tiger was huge and full-grown.
It crossed the road and disappeared in the Jungle before our eyes.
All the students were highly excited to see the big cat. They promised us to
write back about the trip and to paint a tiger. We left the park at 6 O' clock.
News:- 6
Media workshop for journalists from the district of Umaria
Bandhavgarh National Park, Jan 4, 2004: A workshop was organized at the Tiger
Trust office at Tala, head quarter of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, on January
4, 2004. Journalists from the district of Umaria associated with both electronic
and print media participated in it. The themes of the workshop were concentrated
basically on expectation in the existing Wildlife Protection Acts of India,
socio-economic reasons, if any, behind the involvement of the locals in wildlife
offences and role of the media in the campaigns for conservation of the Tiger.
It was observed that the Wildlife Protection Acts, 1972, despite going through
its 3rd amendment in 2003, needed more teeth. First, fine and punishments for
offences related to Schedule-1 animal which includes the tiger, should be hiked.
Usually, cases related to Schedule-1 animals used to take anything up to 5 to
10 years in the court of law to come to a stage of probable conviction, if there
is any. It should also be noted that the rate of conviction related to the offences
meted out to the tiger in India is miserably low.
It was deliberated that most of the illegal trafficking related to the tiger
took place in centres like Delhi and Mumbai. From there, it make way to Nepal,
and finally to China. It is noteworthy that most of the tiger skins and bones
had been recovered from the India-Nepal boarder.
During the workshop, it was lamented that most of the accused involved in the
illegal trafficking of the Tiger roamed around freely on bail. Therefore, acting
on them, which would be curbing the crime at the hub itself, would be a priority.
Mrs. Anjana Gosain, honorary secretary, Tiger Trust who had been the resource
person in the workshop revealed form a research that each wildlife-related crime
used to involve four to five persons. Their modus operandi had been observed
to be methods related to electrocution, ditch digging and laying of loop or
traps. Killing by shooting had been very rare.
It was also proposed that the government should empower the forest guards and
rangers to protect the wildlife. Instances were cited in the law where it had
been enacted that no forest officials below Forest Range Officers had got the
power to possess arms. It had also been approved that a Range Officer could
not shoot unless he confronted at least 12 people and unless they start firing
at first.
'Proactive role of the media in the efforts of conservation of the Tiger' was
another major topic of the workshop. Members of the media themselves categorized
their possible roles in that regard. Mr. Santosh Gupta, advocate and senior
correspondent for Press Trust of India, United New of India and The Hitavada
put forward the proposition that journalists should go around the village periodically
and get feedback from the villagers regarding the impact and effectiveness of
the campaigns carried out by the Tiger Trust. He also proposed that it would
be published and broadcast. The same was accepted by all other journalists present
in the workshop unanimously.
Deep Narayan Soni (Dainik Bhaskar), Rajnish Singh (Sahara Samay Channel), Man
Singh (Daily Samay), Chandra Prakash Dubey (Swatantra Mat), Rajendra Nigam (Nav
Bharat), Narendra Tripathy (Aaj Tak and ETV), Hari Kishan Bhivania (Siti Cable),
Kaushal (Dainik Khabar), Santosh Gupta (PTI and UNI), Narendra Deo Bagadia (Nai
Dunia) and Ratan Khandelwal (President, Press Club of Umaria) were among the
journalists participating the workshop.
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