IMCLS objects to proposed prog on Wildlife Protection Act

Staff Reporter

ITANAGAR, 2 Jun: The Idu Mishmi Cultural Literary Society (IMCLS) has strongly objected to the proposed awareness programme on the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and Araanyak in Dibang Valley and Lower Dibang Valley districts.

The IMCLS said that it is opposing the programme as the Idu Mishmi community is "opposing the proposal to create a tiger reserve in the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary (DWLS)."

In a letter to the WCCB's Guwahati (Assam)-based regional office recently, the IMCLS categorically stated that no wildlife awareness programme would be allowed to be held in the two districts until the authorities address its demands.

"The Idu Mishmi people are opposing the creation of a tiger reserve in the DWLS as they see it as an illegal notification by the authority," the IMCLS said.

"Without addressing this issue, no tiger reserve or any kind of research shall be permitted whatsoever, as solemnly resolved by entire indigenous people and local communities of both the districts," it said.

"We conveyed our concerns clearly to Environment & Forests Minister Mama Natung on 8 May, 2023, as well," it added.

The IMCLS sought to justify its opposition to the proposed tiger reserve, claiming that "the authorities have hurt the sentiment of the Mishmi community by alleging that the Idu Mishmi community indulges in poaching."

The society further demanded that a copy of the inquiry report be made available to it.

It termed the proposed awareness programme "racist, unethical, disguised motive and dubious to portray that Mishmis are incapable of conserving tigers and wildlife."

Stating that "the Wildlife Institute of India's (WII) proposal for creating a tiger reserve in the DWLS is scientifically biased, unethical, and methodologically erroneous," the society further claimed that "no state authority took the consent of the gram sabha, as required under the WLPA, 1972, nor did the WCCB make or show any concern about it in the past."

"This dubious approach through ‘awareness programme’ is a racist, unethical, and illegal approach to conservation, and also goes against the Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992 and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

"The WCCB has already maligned not just Idus but entire Mishmis to impose the NTCAs narrative," the society alleged.