During the second week of May, I travelled in the foot hills as well as the High Mountain regions of Kumaon in Uttarakhand state. ‘According to the Uttarakhand forest department, 71, 82 and 66 deaths due to wild animal attacks were recorded in 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. There is little effort to protect human lives resulting in people becoming suspicious of the forest department. This has increased to 246 in 2022.’[vii]Uttarakhand’s hill regions have significant forest cover and the Forest department has more authority than the revenue department. The high handedness of the Forest department has resulted in migration of people from their homes.

Source: The Hindu June 19, 2024 07:52 UTC