According to official statistics, Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district has 434 villages. If 339 of them fall into the tiger reserve, it effectively changes the very nature of this Adivasi district.
Published Jul 31, 2025 | 2:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 31, 2025 | 2:00 PM
A tiger crossing a road in Tadoba Tiger reserve. (iStock)
Synopsis: The Telangana government proposed to expand the Kawal Tiger Reserve in the Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district and declared it the Kumuram Bheem Conservation Reserve. However, it was kept in abeyance due to massive opposition from Adivasis and civil society.
On 30 May this year, through Government Order (GO) No. 49, the Telangana government proposed to expand the Kawal Tiger Reserve in the Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district and declared it the “Kumuram Bheem Conservation Reserve”.
Due to massive opposition from Adivasis and civil society — and eventually even from Adivasi leaders within the ruling party — the government was forced to issue a memo on 21 July, temporarily putting this GO “in abeyance.”
While the original GO was a formal order of the Telangana government, the second is merely a memo from the Department of Forest, Environment, Science and Technology.
This memo does not state that the decision is withdrawn or cancelled, only that it is “kept in abeyance until further orders.” This means the danger is not yet over.
It is like putting a venomous snake into a basket — it can still be taken out at any time through those “further orders.” Therefore, not just the affected Adivasis, but all of Telangana society must seriously reflect on this looming danger.
So what is this danger exactly? According to the government, the order is issued under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, to create a vast tiger corridor connecting the Tadoba–Andhari Tiger Reserve, Kanharghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, and Chaprala Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra, as well as the Indravati Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh.
If implemented, 1.49 lakh hectares (3,70,000 acres) of forest will become part of this corridor. According to the GO, 339 villages and habitations in the forests of Asifabad, Kerameri, Rebbena, Tiryani, Kagaznagar, Sirpur, Karselli, Bejjur, and Penchikalpet ranges fall within this corridor. Paragraph nine of the GO mentions these 339 villages.
However, according to the accompanying annexure listing forest beats and compartments, there are 214 in the Asifabad division and 269 in the Kagaznagar division, totalling 483.
According to official statistics, Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district has 434 villages. If 339 of them — around 80 percent — fall into the tiger reserve, it effectively changes the very nature of this Adivasi district.
It would no longer be an Adivasi district but would become a tiger district! The GO, which runs to 24 pages, does not contain a single sentence about what will happen to the Adivasis once the district is handed over to the tigers.
The human tragedy is enormous — out of a total population of 5,15,812 in the district, at least 4,00,000 would either be displaced or have their lives, livelihoods, habitats and futures placed under the shadow of the tiger’s paw.
From the day the GO was issued, anxiety began spreading in the district and nearby forest areas. With no clear details made public, that anxiety grew deeper.
Protests took many forms: Local meetings, rallies, sit-ins, petitions to officials, and demonstrations. On 11 July, the district collector submitted a report to the government about the growing discontent.
In response, the government formed a cabinet sub-committee including Forest Minister Konda Surekha, Adilabad district in-charge minister Jupally Krishna Rao, and Panchayat Raj Minister Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka), directing them to study the issue and submit a report.
On 21 July, a bandh organised by Adivasis from four districts — Kumuram Bheem Asifabad, Adilabad, Nirmal, and Mancherial — against the GO was a complete success.
That very day, based on the sub-committee’s recommendations, the government issued Memo No. 3602/For.I(1)/2025, announcing a temporary relief.
But then, don’t tigers deserve protection? Shouldn’t humans show empathy and compassion toward voiceless creatures? Absolutely. Tigers must be protected. They must not be allowed to go extinct. Although humans have labelled tigers as brutal beasts, in reality, there is no more violent creature than man.
Other species resort to violence only out of necessity; only humans inflict violence without need. Furthermore, biodiversity is essential to ecological balance.
No species should be allowed to perish. And humans must take every necessary step to safeguard biodiversity. But none of these steps should result in the displacement of people, loss of livelihood, insecurity, or destruction of their future.
Recognising the declining tiger population and the risk of extinction, the Indian government launched Project Tiger in 1973 to conserve natural tiger habitats. This initiative reportedly led to a significant increase in the tiger population.
Using more scientific tracking methods, the government found there were 1,411 tigers in 2006. That number rose to 1,706 in 2010, 2,967 in 2018, and 3,682 in 2022. Along with the growing tiger population, the forests they inhabit and the prey base they require must also grow.
While this increase is encouraging, the human cost has been immense. During this time of rising tiger numbers, 5,50,000 Adivasis were displaced. By 2021, 2,54,794 people had been displaced across 50 tiger reserves. Between 2021 and 2024, six newly declared reserves displaced another 2,90,000 people.
The new Kumuram Bheem tiger corridor will impact 4,00,000 people. The number of people who will be evicted from their homes is also unclear, and whether they will be resettled or compensated for lost land, homes, and livelihoods.
Shockingly, the G.O. 49 claims that the affected populations of the 339 villages were informed and that they “expressed their support.” It also claims the proposal was “examined carefully and approved” by the government. These two claims are blatant lies. If they supported the plan, why the protests? If it was examined so carefully, why suspend it later?
When any authority — government or otherwise — enters into traditional Adivasi habitats and undertakes projects that displace them, the Forest Rights Act 2006 (Section 4(2)), the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 (Section 38V(5)), and the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (PESA), Section 4(i), mandate that this must happen only with “Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).”
In recent years, the Indian government has not honoured these laws in a single forest project. It has blatantly violated them. It openly defies its own legal commitments. Now, through GO 49, the Telangana government seems eager to join these ranks of violators.
The history of tiger reserves in India shows repeated violations: Long-resident Adivasis and local people have been forcibly evicted, pressured into leaving, even in areas where tigers are not present. They were driven out without aid, compensation, rehabilitation, or livelihood support—reduced to beggars. Those who stayed back faced threats, suppression, arrests, false cases, torture, and, in some cases, even rape of Adivasi women.
Tiger reserves are becoming open-air prisons for Adivasis. This was the conclusion of a comprehensive July 2024 report by the University of Arizona’s Indigenous Rights and Protected Areas Initiative titled India’s Tiger Reserves: Tribals Get Out, Tourists Welcome.
In reality, this is not about tiger conservation — it is about eco-tourism: displacing Adivasis and inviting tourists to gaze at tigers in safari parks. The Modi government introduced a “Policy for Eco-Tourism in Forests and Wildlife Areas” in 2018, which essentially hands over forests cleared of Adivasis to tourism corporations.
In 2023, the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act took it further, allowing governments or private entities to establish animal enclosures, safaris, and eco-tourism facilities (i.e., resorts, hotels, guesthouses) in forest areas. The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 prohibited tourism in conservation zones, but this amendment openly violates that rule.
Under the new regime, corporate entities are welcome in newly declared tiger reserves, but the Adivasis who lived there for generations are not. Since the forests are now under government control, they can also be handed over to corporations for mining. In the name of tiger conservation, the government forces entering the forest can also be used to suppress Adivasi struggles for Jal-Jungle-Zameen-Izzat and the revolutionary movement that supports it.
Will the Telangana government now join Narendra Modi’s assault on Adivasis for the benefit of mining and tourism corporations under the pretext of wildlife protection?
(Views are personal. Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
