PARTNER: IFAW
PROJECT LEAD: AMRIT MENON (amrit@wti.org.in)
India’s protected areas (PA’s) encompassing its national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, biosphere reserves and even marine national parks and sanctuaries are guarded by frontline enforcement staff; and the total PA staff strength of the country would be less than the total Police strength of any of the metropolitan cities of India. Many of the PA employees are temporary staff or daily laborers (4-71% in various states; total 32% in all 22 states and 2 UTs {J&K and Ladakh} covered), who work along with permanent employees, to patrol, monitor and ensure protection of the PAs. Under-trained and underequipped, a majority of the frontline forest staff lack proper knowledge of law, investigation and crime-prevention techniques, crime reporting, and even adequate field gear and weapons to carry out their duties efficiently.
![](https://www.wti.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2-WTI_L-Gautam-Baruahs-family_Kaziranga-NP.jpg "2) WTI_L Gautam Baruah\")
They also lack proper accident assurance to adequately cover them from occupational hazards; they face accidents in difficult terrains, attacks from wild animals, poachers, smugglers, maoists in their line of duty. Enhancing their morale is vital for fighting wildlife crime, especially against organized criminal groups well- connected to international wildlife trade networks.
Since 1998, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) has been working in PAs across the country to address the issues faced by India’s forests, wildlife and other natural resources. Recognizing the critical need to strengthen India’s frontline forest staff, in 2000, WTI and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) launched a project named the Guardians of the Wild Project (or Van Rakshak Project; VRP). VRP was aimed to assist government agencies in developing a strong, well-equipped and motivated force of front-line field staff in PAs. The project aimed at (1) training and educating the forest staff; (2) equipping them with basic field kits; and (3) providing them with supplementary accident assurance coverage.
Currently WTI- IFAW provides training to the forest staff in field craft, wildlife law, monitoring, wildlife-crime investigation, evidence collection and reporting. To date, VRP has trained more than 17,000 frontline forest staff from 170 PAs. The high success of VRP in India was extended, upon invitation, to Bhutan which started in the year 2012, where WTI-IFAW trained 959 forest staff, and distributed 1009 field kits; this was mainly done due to the trans-boundary nature of many forests hosting tigers, rhino populations. VRP also equipped more than 16,000 forest staff with a full kit of quality basic field gear, which includes a rugged backpack, jacket, rain- suit, stainless-steel water bottle, torch (flashlight), and cap.
The permanently employed frontline forest-staff under certain Forest Departments are covered by the assurance schemes of respective State governments. However, these assurance schemes are mostly affected by slow processes, and this inordinate delay seriously impacts the injured person and the surviving members of the family of the deceased. Moreover, temporary employees are not covered by government assurance protection. Lack of proper assurance coverage affects the morale of the employees, leading to a non-motivated and less committed forest force. In April 2001, WTI launched a scheme of supplementary accidental assurance scheme for all the frontline forest/wildlife employees in PA’s across the country, including the temporary staff and daily laborers. This assurance scheme matches government assurance to permanent employees. The scheme also provides ex-gratia payment to non-permanent staff not covered through the govt. assurance.
