New Delhi, Dec 19 (PTI) The government on Thursday emphasised that village relocation from core areas of tiger reserves is "purely voluntary in nature".

The information was shared by Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh in the Rajya Sabha in response to a question.

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Singh said the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has issued guidelines for incentivised voluntary village relocation programme in notified core/critical habitats of tiger reserves under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, read with the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

He said the village relocation is "purely voluntary in nature and inter alia provides for community facilities like access roads, irrigation and drinking water".

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Asked about reasons for "displacements" from reserves that do not have tigers, the minister said low density or absence of tigers is not the only criteria for notifying an area as a tiger reserve.

"Certain tiger reserves operate in a meta-population framework and have proved their utility as a steppingstone for dispersing tigers in a landscape," he said.

"Tiger being an 'umbrella species', the protection offered to it also ensures viable populations of other wild animals (co-predators, prey) and forest, thereby facilitating the ecological viability of the entire forest area/habitat.

"Therefore, a tiger reserve becomes an ecological imperative for the survival of source populations of tiger and other wild animals," he said.

In September, thousands of tribals residing in the core zones of India's tiger reserves, including Rajaji (Uttarakhand), Nagarhole (Karnataka), Udanti-Sitanadi (Chhattisgarh), Achanakmar (Chhattisgarh), and Kaziranga (Assam), protested against the NTCA's directive to accelerate their relocation from these areas.

NTCA Member Secretary Gobindsagar Bhardwaj had told PTI that the directions were issued in accordance with the law.

A tiger reserve consists of two zones: the core (critical tiger habitat) and the buffer (peripheral area). According to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, core areas must remain "inviolate for the purpose of tiger conservation".

The buffer areas, in contrast, permit sustainable human activities alongside wildlife conservation.

Tribal and indigenous communities residing in the core areas say they have lived in harmony with nature and forests for generations and their livelihoods, culture, and traditions are deeply connected to the forest ecosystem.

Under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006, these communities are granted individual and community rights to access, manage, and use forest resources, as well as live in these forests. However, they argue that the "contentious" and "delayed" implementation of FRA has left them vulnerable to forced eviction.

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