Grassland Management in Wildlife Protected Areas (PA\u27s) in India

Ecological status of Indian grasslands had been a subject of conflicting opinion in the past. Existing grasslands are anthropogenic in origin except, Himalayan meadows in high altitudes. Extensive clearing of the forests for human settlements, agricultural cultivation and domestication of animals in the past have been resulted into opening of pockets/grasslands amidst the forest areas. Such tame grasslands are categorized as succession or rotational grasslands. There are four categories of PAs viz., National parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves and community reserves. Thus, 683 PAs (102 national parks, 551 wildlife sanctuaries, 47 conservation reserves and 04 community reserves) spread over an area of 164985 sq km (about 5% of total geographic area) have been constituted in different biogeographic zones of the country, most of PAs are situated in the forest ecosystems. According to the report of the Forestry Commission (2006), nearly 40% of these PAs are suffering from livestock grazing and fodder extraction by the inhabitants of well-established villages. At the beginning, ‘Project Tiger’ was launched in the year 1972-73 for conservation of tiger and their habitats, consisting of entire food web in the natural ecosystem, including prey species. A step ahead, till 2005, 28 Tiger Reserves spread over 37,700 sq km in 17 States, have been established and representing to different bio regions of the country