Table of contents page no.

1.Introduction 3

2.Objectives 3

3.Case study 4

4.observation 6

5.Conclusion 7

6.Bibliography 8

7.Appendix 8
 Relevance of national park/bird sanctuary/wildlife sanctuary visit report

1.Introduction

Wildlife sanctuary can be defined as the area in which the birds and animals are protected and
are kept safely in their natural habitats protecting them from the illegal activities like
poaching and trafficking. Other terms for wildlife sanctuary are natural reserve, biosphere
reserve or a conservation area. They are important for studies and research purposes. These
are directly controlled by the government and are also owned privately by charities and
research institutes. In these areas, there are strict prohibitions against killing, poaching or
capturing of the birds and animals present there. These are mainly established for the
protection of species that are endangered. Furthermore, human activities are not allowed here
and no disturbances are allowed in these areas. The surroundings of the wildlife habitats are
also protected and no disturbances are allowed in these areas too. India has about 543 wildlife
sanctuaries that cover an area of 118,918 square kilometres in total. The wildlife sanctuaries
aim to protect the natural habitats and the animals dwelling on it. The country has many
beautiful sanctuaries which are covered with large rivers, forests and beautiful mountains too.

2.Objectives of the study

To discover and gather knowledge about various wild life sanctuaries and national park in my
surrounding.

Relevance and importance of wild life sanctuary especially near to urban areas

To know about functioning of ecosystem in an national park and also how it affects urban
ecosystem

To find out awareness about national park and wildlife sanctuary from general public

To know how national park operates and how it carries out its operations

To know about impact of national park on urban society

To know about new species of plant and animals kept in an national park

To get public opinion on how they see a national park in their perspective.

To find out importance of national park.

Case study : Report on Sanjay Gandhi national park

Address: Mumbai

Date of visit : 30th October, 2022

In the pre independence period, SGNP was known as Krishnagiri National Park, with an area
of only 20.26km². In 1974, the Park was renamed as Borivali National Park by acquiring
several adjacent reserved forest properties. In 1981, it was again renamed as Sanjay Gandhi
National Park in the memory of the late Sanjay Gandhi, elder son of the then Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi. Now SGNP covers an area of 103.09 km² of which 28.28 km² is designated as
the core area and 66.25 km² is designated as the buffer area. The transition zone/tourism zone
measures 8.66 km². The park falls between 720°53" E to 720°58"E longitude and 190°8.8" N
to 190°21"N latitude. The Park was notified in 1974 and it spreads over the areas of Malad,
Kandivilli, Goregaon, Mulund, and Thane, in Mumbai. It holds more than 1,000 species of
plants, forty species of mammals, 251 species of birds, nine species of amphibians, and a
large variety of fish. It also encompasses the famous Kanheri Caves (cared between 1st
century BCE and 9th century CE) and two lakes – Vihar and Tulsi – which provide water to
the entire metropolis. The management of the Park covers three territorial ranges – Yeur,
Tulsi, and Krishnagiri Upvan Range – and is divided into nine rounds and twentyfive beats.
The forest within the SGNP boundary consists of forty-four tribal hamlets consisting of
approximately 1,800 tribal families. 6 The tribal population falls under the authority of the
Maharashtra State Tribal Affairs Department and is protected under the Fifth Schedule of the
Constitution and the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Inside the Park premises, the areas where they
live are divided into localities known as „padas‟ 388 Amrita Sen and Sarmistha Pattanaik
(hamlets). About twelve padas can be located known by the names of Nowapada, Rajnipada,
Chunapada, Tumnipada, Keladhaipada, Ravanpada, Talapada, Malapada, Chinchpada,
Damupada, Pachapanipada, and Dampada. The particular cultural heritage which we are
trying to sum up in a nutshell largely encompasses their life in terms of religious rituals,
social customs, aesthetics, education, identity, and language (Pattanaik and Sen 2013). They
worship nature in all forms, which includes the famous Wagovadev who epitomises the god
of leopards, followed by Gaodevi and Zarimari. Others deities include Agnidevta,
Himayidev, Hirwadev, Chendova, Karvidevta, Narayanadeva, Chiradev, Siridevta,
Kangwadevta, Tulas, and Dhaan, to name a few. These deities epitomise natural forces as
well as the forest. Karvidevta is worshipped widely since he is the god of the woods. In
January every year, they perform their annual religious ceremony for two days where all gods
and goddess are worshipped together. This is followed by Adivasi dances in the form of
Tarpa, Pamru, and Gauri where, all the families come together and celebrate. They recite
bhajans along with dance. Pujas are followed by feasts, which comprise rice and chicken; the
latter is reared in their homes (Sen 2013). Although this annual ceremony has a lineage which
can be traced traditionally, the families worship almost every day. Their traditional sketching
in the form of Warli painting is highly monosyllabic and consists of their observations from
nature. These are the sketches which were initially mastered by the women during marriages
in the family, but now are widely practised by the younger generations too, painted not only
on walls but also on T-shirts and jute-bags and made into frames. Their ways of articulation
of a distinct identity, revisiting traditional scriptures and efforts to transform them in the light
of contemporary needs as well as promoting tribal language and enriching the traditions are
the ways in which tribal social consciousness can be revisited. During the course of
interaction with the Assistant Conservator of Forest Shri Santosh Saste, we came across a
quite different picture from what we came to know later while interacting with the
communities. According to him, „the tribal communities are not permanent settlers in the
place; they have encroached the region from neighbouring areas like Vikramgarh. But they
claim that they are here since more than hundred years‟. But these tribal people are residing
there prior to the rule of the Mughals, Marathas, and the British. In Nowapada, where our
study was conducted, people narrated their sheer disgruntlement and stories of misery. Within
Nowapada, there are 130 hutments which are semipermanent structures built with bamboos,
mud, and thatched roof; some Alienation, Conflict, and Conservation … 389 of them have a
small courtyard. The rooms within the hamlets are small; very few of the houses have
electricity. Some of the adivasis are employed within the Park as caretakers of the animals,
security guards, cleaners, casual labourers, and workers in the Lion and Tiger Safari. Besides,
they work in the municipality area as cleaners, while women work as sweepers, labourers,
maid servants, fruit sellers, rag pickers, and street vendors. Their monthly income on an
average ranges between Rs 1,000 and 2,000, which is quite meagre for subsistence in a
metropolis like Mumbai. The FD jobs are temporary and if these jobs are not available the
people have to resort to outside employments such as housekeeping. According to the
respondents in the survey, this is strategically done by FD to restrain them from being
involved in permanent jobs. Livelihood Vulnerabilities: The Current Scenario Those who
work for FD are known by the name of „Harijan Samaj‟ and are provided with permanent
houses within the padas. These houses have amenities like electricity, television, and
refrigerators. Basic amenities like schools and hospitals are more than seven km, which
distance, in the absence of transportation facility, they have to walk. This distance within the
forest is almost always dangerous due to the factors like leopard attack and robbery.
According to the respondents, the buses which ply for tourist safari purposes cannot be
availed by them because the costs are too high. There is one tap available for 130 houses in
the area which leads to water crisis. They use chulhas for cooking which requires wood,
which they are not allowed to gather in the Park, apart from the dry wood which is hardly of
any use. But, according to the respondents, the officials collect wood from the forest
indiscriminately and use them for construction purposes in the vicinity. Collection of fruits
and vegetables from forests for sale in the market in winter, which forms a part of their
sustenance, is almost always prohibited. Apart from this, the officials strictly prohibit the
people to forage in search of any forest resource and do not permit any agriculture. The tribal
people in SGNP, as elsewhere in the country (see Bapat 2005) have almost lost access to
common property resources like fuel wood, grass, timber, as well as their own land.
Domesticated animals are also confiscated. Their belongingness cannot be secured in many
cases on the grounds that generations of people living there can hardly provide relevant
documents of their ownership, since barring the present generation, very few of them are
literate. 390 Amrita Sen and Sarmistha Pattanaik Any assistance for the adivasis from the
local NGOs, including supply of ration, is refused by the security guards at the main entrance
of the Park and, even if they are allowed, the quantity in which they are to be given to the
adivasis is predetermined by the guards. In this way, the bureaucratic control over the lives
and livelihood of the adivasis is maintained and solely placed at the disposal of FD. The
tourists who visit the national park as picnickers, morning walkers, and visitors make the
place dirty by throwing garbage like plastic, which animals like deer eat and die; the adivasis
are blamed for „killing‟ these animals intentionally. Added to this, leopard attacks have
become so frequent in the vicinity, and many adivasis have been victims of these attacks.
According to the people, most of the leopard cubs are brought by FD from outside areas like
the Arey Colony, Rajapur, and Vasaipur and are set free in the Park. These cubs are
aggressive and are dangerous to human beings. In the name of compensation, FD provides
aid only to the victims within the village area and not for those who fall prey to the predators
while venturing into the forest. However, in spite of their marginalisation and the gross denial
of their autonomy in their own native place, we found a discrete sense in which the tribal
communities love the forests and try to devise ecofriendly measures to conserve the Park.
They never extract tree barks for their fuel usage; they use „chulha‟ which produce less
carbon emission. But the NGO assigned to provide these eco-friendly „chulha‟ seldom go to
these communities, making its use scarce. The tribal residents complained that, while they are
punished for extracting wood from the forest, FD never hesitates to cut trees and obtain wood
for official construction purposes. The tribal community also spoke about the use of
sustainable energy sources like biogas from the toilet waste water and use of solar energy to
generate electricity. In this way, electricity can be made available to all the tribal hamlets.
But, unfortunately, no effort has been made to incorporate such measures whereby duress and
coercion is imposed in the name of conservation. In the case of SGNP, which is a PA within a
metropolitan city, the tribal hamlets within the park are facing livelihood vulnerabilities due
to lack of infrastructural facilities, human–wildlife conflict, and constant threats of eviction
by FD. They are at a complete mercy of the Forest Department. The exploitation which once
excluded them from their livelihood during the colonial rule for enhancing commercial
forestry, has now simply shifted its focus from forestry to biodiversity conservation. As
documented above, their cultural resonance finds no place of exposition in the PA
management policies; they are, on the contrary, Alienation, Conflict, and Conservation …
391 trapped within a vicious circle of poverty and debt. They are alienated in the sense of
their denial of property rights which seeks to detach them from their ancestral lands. While
national parks in cities are created with a greater aim to conserve the green spaces, the
dominance of interests representing scientific rationalities over the subsistence needs of the
indigenous communities has further alienated them.

4.Observations

1.Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a vast national park but is is contracting in respect with
time.

2.There is lot of biological diversirty, there are more than 250 species of plants and animals
and not only that, one can observe cultural biodiversity also with more than 50 types of tribal
community dialects whose arts and literature can be seen in the national park

3.This national park has created a lot of opportunities for people who were in need of work
and it is well structured from economic perspective

4.There are lot of people whose livelihood is dependent on this national park this provides
gereat support to them.

5. The government is now more focusing of conservation of national park as it is very

important biodiversity area.

6.Proper conservation will give rise to economy of these people and it will help in
diversification of biodiversity.
5.Conclusion

Relevance of wild life sanctuary

Help in Preserving Wildlife: Most of the time it is difficult to protect endangered animals by
relocating them as it is tedious and very costly and hence, these animals are protected in their
natural environment where they can be monitored and can reproduce and grow in number
while being under strict protection of the sanctuary. Biologists and other researchers can also
study these animals behaviours and traits by visiting these sanctuaries. And as they are in
their natural habitat, they are free to roam and move around without being constrained in a
cage.

Help in Protection of Landscapes: Forests are disappearing. There was a time when all we
could see around us was trees, and now all we see are buildings. These forests have been cut
down to make way for villages, towns and cities. But in these sanctuaries, as it is protected
land these forests cannot be cut down, they are preserved and allowed to grow without any
barriers. This also helps preserve landforms like hills and mountains, rivers, valleys and
waterfalls. As they are protected, they are safe from destruction, development and pollution.

Help in Preserving Culture and History: The forests these sanctuaries occupy are also home
to some tribes that have made it their habitat since ages long gone. Tribes like the Saara
adivasis in Odisha also play a role in conserving the forests that they live in. By establishing
these sanctuaries, the tribes living there are protected as well as they do not have to fight
against developers who would otherwise tear down the forest. This also helps in preserving
their culture and habits.

Protection of Endangered Species: Numerous species of plants and animals are on the brink
of extinction because of the habits and needs of us humans. Sanctuaries provide us with a
safe space where human activities do not interfere with nature and where nature can grow
free from human intervention.

Conservation of Biodiversity: Biodiversity is the wealth of habitats, ecosystems and diversity

of species on the planet and this number has been waning because of human activities. As
already mentioned, sanctuaries help in conserving all the biodiversity over an area as it keeps
this area free from humans and their activities which could be detrimental to the ecosystem. It
is also a type of conservation known as in-situ conservation where the ecosystem is
conserved in their natural state and form.

Ecotourism: In wildlife sanctuaries, people are not allowed to go unescorted, that is without a
certified guide. Ecotourism is the tourism of ecologically interesting areas to support the
conservation of wildlife and observe the wildlife. Here the general public has access to see
animals in their natural habitat free of the cages. They get to see animals in their herds, with
their young ones and without any fear for their safety. One of the major benefits of
ecotourism is that money can be raised by the fees collected for entering the sanctuary. This
money can be used in turn to develop the sanctuary.

Education and Public Use: The general public is not educated enough about sanctuaries and
the benefits they have. But nowadays more and more people are getting educated on
sanctuaries and are part of committees that help in uptake of sanctuaries. Celebrities as well
help in creating awareness by adopting animals and creating charities on behalf of sanctuaries
not only in India but all around the world.
6. Bibliography

www.impoff.com
www.vedantu.com

7. Appdendix

Not applicable as case study method was used