A battle for survival: In Sunderbans, villagers brave tigers for resources

In the absence of alternative livelihoods, villagers living in the region claim unfettered access to the forest, despite high chances of a tiger attack

When Subodh Mondal noticed marks of tiger claws at Pakhiralay, a village in Gosaba block in the Sundarbans, he mobilised a team of ten, armed with bamboo canes, and followed the marks. After about ten minutes on the trail, they located a tiger dragging one of the villagers, Gobind Maity, towards the forest. The men instinctively beat the tiger to death.

While Maity was hospitalised for several days recovering from severe injuries that left  him with a permanently disabled arm, the rescue team of ten was booked for killing the tiger. Some of the men went into hiding, but eventually all, including Mondal, spent a few months in jail. Once Maity was out of the hospital, he too was imprisoned for three months. Subsequently, the villagers raised money to bail all the men out. The incident happened nearly two decades ago, but the villagers are reminded of it every now and then even today. The case against the eleven men, including the victim, is still on, and periodically they are summoned by the court. Imprisonment for killing a tiger varies between eight and ten years.

The brush with death, however, did not deter Maity from going deep into the forest, where the risk of tiger attack lurks every moment, for crab and honey collection.  Like Maity, thousands of villagers living at the edge of the Sunderban Reserve Forest have no option but to make the dangerous trip into the reserve for a living. The high soil salinity renders farming a nonviable occupation in the region.

In the last fortnight alone, two crab collectors were killed by tigers in separate incidents in the Sundarbans. The numbers speak to the risks they undertake to earn a livelihood. According to the West Bengal forest department, 20 people were injured and 24 killed by tigers in the last 18 years in South 24 Parganas, where the Sundarban Tiger Reserve is located. The Sundarban Tiger Widow Welfare Society, a non-profit organisation, says the number of “tiger widows” residing in West Bengal is even higher at 3,000. On an average, 100-120 people fall prey to tigers every year in the Sundarbans, says N C Jana, president of the society. In South 24 Parganas's Gosaba block itself, there are 600 documented tiger deaths, according to him.

The discrepancy in numbers is owing to a large number of tiger deaths, almost 95 per cent, going unreported, as most people go to forests without proper licences, a punishable offence leading to seizures of boats and fine.

The forest department has put up about 42.7 Km of nylon fence in villages adjoining reserve forests in the South 24 Parganas of Sundarbans( where the Tiger Reserve is located) , covering almost 90 per cent of the area, to bar tigers from crossing river and reaching villages.  However, the fencing work needs to be done on a continuous basis, as steep erosion sweeps away the nets in about a year or two.

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At Patharpara, a small hamlet in Satjelia Island, a mud temple of Bono Bibi, the forest goddess of Sundarban, is believed to be the shield against tigers. Ironically, the temple stands in the middle of a locality called “Vidhva Para” (Widow Locality), known so after the widows of tiger victims who live there.

A narrow, about 30 feet-wide, river divides Patharpara from the forest area.The number of people killed by tigers at Patharpara in the last five years is close to 100, according to Sanjit Kumar Mondal, a school teacher at Patharpara. Every family in the area has lost at least one person to tiger attack, he says.  

There is no alternative livelihood, apart from fishing and crab hunting in narrow creeks, says Mondal, adding that the income flow from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), the government scheme which insures a minimum 100 days of employment per year, is erratic and not enough to survive for 365 days.  

The high number of tiger-related deaths is also because more people venture into the forest now than before. Earlier only men went into the forest, but now even women and often the whole family go for hunting together. 

Pramila Barman lost her husband to tiger attack while he was crab hunting about two year ago. She says her daughter-in-law now goes to forests to catch crabs in a group of three to four women.  

 “Now more dead bodies are being recovered as family members go together. They give the tiger a fight and if they fail, they at least bring back the body,” says Jana, president of the Sundarban TigerWidow Welfare Society.

Jana has been compiling stories of tiger widows since 2012, and one of the most shocking accounts is of Bhagini, a resident of Paschim Dwarikapur Adivasi Palli, who was six months old when a tiger killed her mother in 1999.

Bhagini's father and a few other relatives had also gone with her mother for crab hunting. She was in her mothers’ lap when a tiger jumped on her mother, dragging her into the forest, leaving Bhagini leathered with the tigers’ saliva, which brought her the nickname Bhagini (Tigress).

Suparna Sarkar of Lahihirpur in Satjelia, lost both of her parents to tiger attacks while fishing in separate incidents. “My father died when I was two. After that, my mother used to go with three other people for catching crab. My mother used to stay in the forest for five to six days. Every time she went, I used to wonder if she would come back. One day she didn’t,” says Sarkar.

Sixty-year-old Nimai Mondal from Pakhiralay village lost his father and younger son to tiger attack. His elder son still goes for fishing in the forest, as there is no other income avenue in the region.

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For the large number of landless people living on the fringes of the Sunderban Reserve, honey collection and fishing are the only source of income.

According to Jana, close to 10 per cent of the 1.5 million people in the Sunderbans are dependent on forest product, fishing being the mainstay, for survival. However, more than 85 per of the fishermen do not have licence to catch fish in the buffer zone of the Sundarban Reserve Forest, where crabs are found.

The Sundarban region is spread across 4,200 sq km of reserved forests and 5,400 sq km of non forest area. Of this, the Sundarban Tiger Reserve is spread over 2,585 sq km, divided into the core zone, with an area of about 1,700 sq  km (designated as critical tiger habitat), and  a buffer zone of about 885 square km. In 1923, the East India Company started giving out permits for controlled fishing in the region.

Boat licences for fishing in the buffer zone were last issued in the 1970s, when about 3,700 licences were issued for fishing in the tiger reserve. Besides the boat licence, fishermen need forest permit and mandatory insurance cover for fishing in the forest. According to data from the forest department, the number of boat licence was at about 2,500 three years ago, but stands at about 1,900 today after the department cancelled some.

Senior official in the forest department say boat licences are openly traded, with many people illegally renting it for as much as Rs 50,000 annually. Most fishermen, however, go into the forest without valid permits.

As per the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2006, illegal encroachment in forest zones is punishable with a fine of up to Rs 200,000 and three to seven years of imprisonment.

“If we see a tiger and a forest official in the reserve forest, we prefer going towards the tiger as the forest officials will seize all the belongings,” says Geeta Mrida, whose husband was killed in a tiger attack during fishing two years ago.

Out of fear of punishment, most tiger deaths go unreported, and the victims lose out on compensation. Family members of those who possess all the documents  are eligible for a compensation of about Rs 450,000, including insurance claim.

Fishermen either go on a day trip, with earnings ranging between Rs 50 and 100, or a week-long trip. In longer trips on full and new moon days, individual earning from crab hunting is between Rs 1,500 and 3,000. While crab collectors in the Sundarabans get Rs 100-200 per kg for their catch, it is sold at Rs 600-700 per kg by retailers.  Since the 1980s, the export of live mud crabs to South East Asia has also become popular.

The forest department also issues passes for about 14 days in March every year for honey collection, another dangerous occupation. Income from honey ranges from Rs 175 to 200 per kg, while it is sold at Rs 300-350 per kg by middlemen in the open market. During the 14-day hazardous trip, 12 to 13 quintal of honey is collected by groups of seven to eight.

“It is an elaborate expedition. Before venturing into the forest we worship Bono Bibi. As we enter the forest, we disperse about 100 feet apart, looking for honey. Whenever we locate a trap, we cry 'Allah Allah'. As everyone gathers, we light Hetal leaves to drive away the bees. Sometimes we get 5 kg, other times, when we are lucky, even 40 kg honey.  Many places, we can’t walk, and need to crawl because of fear of tiger attack. When we are back, our skin is all bruised by bee stings and crawling,” says Shyamapradas Mondal, a honey bee collector.

Every honey collector is required to sell at least 25 kg of honey at Rs 85 per kg to the forest department, says Mondal.

The odds are stacked against those living in the region. Naren Mondal, a honey bee and crab collector, lost his son to a tiger a few years back. Mondal, a Hindu, continues to believes Bono Bibi, mythologically believed to be A Muslim, will keep him safe. For thousands of people in the Sundarbans, the unyielding faith in Bono Bibi,  is their only weapon against tigers.