Launched over 50 years ago, India’s Tiger Reserves have grown in number and status over time, hailed worldwide as a miraculous success story in environment and forest conservation in times of climate change. From only 9 in 1973, there are now 58 Tiger Reserves across 18 states. India currently claims to be home to three-quarters of the world’s tigers, with the tiger population growing at an impressive rate of 61% a year. This photo essay seeks to highlight the other side of this so-called success story based on women’s experiences in Naikapuguda, a small tribal habitation in the notified core area of the Kawal Tiger Reserve in northern Telangana state. It traces how the declaration of a Tiger Reserve ruptures women’s symbiotic, living relationship with forests, curtails their access to vital livelihood resources, and harasses and criminalises them for engaging in activities that are critical to their everyday survival.
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S. Seethalakshmi (2026) studied this question.
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