To galvanize the tiger conservation effort in the country a special Tiger Protection forces (STPF) under the aegis of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is all set to provide the much -needed boost to provide the dwindling tiger population . The proposal formulated by the Home Ministry and the Ministry of Environment and Forest, envisages a special force trained by Central Paramilitary forces and recruited by local police familiar with difficult jungle terrain.
Following a Rs 50 crore grant from the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in this year’s budget for tiger protection, the NTCA, working with expert advice from the Home Ministry, has created specialized structure for the STPF with each company comprising 112 personnel, including a Deputy Superintend of Police, three sub-inspectors, 6 head constables and 30 constables, divided into three platoons. In a significant departure from the usual practice where the regular forest guard is above 50 years or nearing retirement, the NTCA has specified that each member of the force must be below 40 years of age.
The first companies of the Special Tiger Protection Forces (STPF) are to be posted at Corbett (Uttarakhand), Ramthambore (Rajasthan), and Dudhwa (Uttar Pradesh) with a total of 13 companies posted in 13 of the more sensitive tiger reserves in India, a first time step for Project Tiger.
Syllabus for STPF
The raising, training and deployment of the STPE is to be done expeditiously. The syllabus for the STPF will be on the basis of the syllabus prescribed by the Ministry of Home affairs for the Indian Reserve Battalion and training inputs will be provided by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the ministry of Environment and Forests. The force is to be conversant with forensic science, anti-poaching intelligence gathering and combat training. The recruitment will be by a panel of the NTCA, MOEF and the WLL.
The measure is certainly a step in the right direction in the context of frequent reports of tigers being killed by poachers for illicit trade in tiger skins and other animal parts. Despite best effort of the government, both at the centre and the states, the scenario of decline in tiger population could not be controlled, a scenario which threatened our ecology. The creation of STPF is expected to put a break on the predatory activities of the hunters and poaches and other anti-environment element. However, much more needs to be done by way of enlisting complete cooperation of the local populace to make the campaign of tiger conservation a success.
SPECIAL FORCE TOPROTECT DWINDLING TIGER POPULATION. by Shariq H Naqvi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Shariq Haider Naqvi.
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