By the end of the first quarter of the 20th century, the need for conservation of forests was being felt all over India. The population was growing rapidly and the forests were coming under pressure. In Ranthambhore, the system of “royalty permits” for commercial felling (mainly for firewood and charcoal) of entire blocks of forests was taking its toll. In 1925, the Jaipur state created a post of Superintendent of Forests and in 1939 the Jaipur Forest Act was enacted.
The Rajasthan forest Act. was enacted in 1953, giving these forests some legal protection. In 1955, these forests were declared as “Sawai Madhopur sanctuary” and the practice of sale of forest produce through “royalty permits” came to an end. This was when the forests received their first “real” protection. However, legal hunting continued unabated till 1973 and by then the tiger population was almost totally decimated.
In 1973 a part of this sanctuary came under Project Tiger Scheme, initiated by Govt. of India and WWF, one of the first nine Tiger reserve areas taken up in the country, under the Project Tiger scheme. At that time there were 16 villages inside the sanctuary but between 1976 and 1979, 12 of these villages were shifted outside the sanctuary.
In 1980, to give greater protection to the forests, an area of 282.03 square kilometers of the inner part of Sawai Madhopur sanctuary was declared as a National Park. Since then the state Govt. stopped collection of any forest produce from sanctuary and National Parks.
In the year 1983, 647 square kilometers. of forests lying to the North of the National park were declared as the Keladevi Sanctuary and included in the Tiger Project – Ranthambhore.
Similarly, in 1984, 130 square kilometers of forests lying to the South of the National Park were declared as Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary and included in Tiger Project Ranthambhore.
During the 1970s, tiger sightings were extremely rare in Ranthambhore but by the mid and late 1980s, as a result of the decade long protection given to the forests, Ranthambhore became the best place in the world to see wild tigers. To a large extent, the credit for making Ranthambhore one of the best tiger habitats in the world, should be given to Mr. Fateh Singh Rathore (who was in-charge of these forests for almost 30 years – till the end of 1990’s) and his team of highly dedicated staff.
Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve attained notoriety for illegal poaching of tigers in the years 1991 and 1992. At that time, tigers, some say over 30 (over 80% of the population), were poached. Some tiger skins were also recovered from local people.
Since then the forest authorities became very strict and for over a decade illegal hunting or poaching was strictly curbed at least in the Ranthambhore National Park. Since 1992, the tiger population gradually recovered.
By the end of 2003, when Mr. G.V.Reddy – the Field Director and a very fine officer left, the Park had nearly 40 tigers, a density of nearly 10 tigers per 100 square kilometers, which was one of the highest in the world.
A few months after Mr. Reddy left, things started turning bad and a year after that crisis hit Ranthambhore again. But that story is for the next posting…
