Pardhis are a nomadic community, who since the time of the Mughal emperors, have been hired to help in shikar (hunting), whether it was for sport for the British or for the royal kitchens of the ‘zameendars’ (landowners). In fact, the crash in India's tiger population from some 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to only a couple of thousand by the end of it, has been attributed largely to this community. The community's traditional occupation is hunting, just as their name suggests. In Marathi, the word ‘paradh’ translates as ‘to hunt.’ The extinction of tigers in Panna Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh) by 2009 is said to be primarily owing to this community's activities inside the forests of Panna. Hence, while the tigers were being reintroduced in Panna, the Forest Department officials decided to work closely with this community and resettled almost 40 Pardhi families to a village outside the Tiger Reserve in a place known as Gandhigram. They have also setup 2 hostels to aid the education of these children. Due to such efforts of mainstreaming, the cases of tiger poaching by Pardhis have dropped to ‘zero’ in the last 15 years in the Panna landscape.

 

However, in order to maintain the stable tiger population as well as support community reformation, it is imperative to provide the community members with alternative sources of livelihood. Wildpines has thus partnered with Last Wilderness Foundation, an NGO that works with communities that are dependent on the forests.

 

More about our NGO partner - www.thelastwilderness.org