Camera traps in Corbett Tiger Reserve, intended for wildlife protection, are being misused to monitor village women, prompting an investigation by the Uttarakhand Corbett Forest Department. Over two weeks after India Today Digital’s November 25 report revealed that male villagers and some forest guards were using these devices to track women entering the forest for foraging, senior officials have either declined to comment or stated they are waiting for the investigation’s results.
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Corbett Government officials address the Cambridge research findings
Kusum Kandwal, the Chairperson of the Uttarakhand Commission for Women, has written to Field Director regarding the issue. “I have spoken to the Field Director and requested the findings of the investigation,” Kandwal told India Today Digital. Ranjan Mishra, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, also commented on the matter. “We will await the probe’s findings, and I trust the Field Director will take the necessary actions,” Mishra told India Today Digital. However, he admitted to being unaware of the timeline for completing the investigation.
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The purpose and timeline of the research’s initiation
The research started as an attempt to understand how forest laws and their provisions are implemented in action. The permission for the research on social implications of digital surveillance on forests was given in 2019. The forest laws come with a colonial imprint where the definitions of surveillance and who can make use of the forest space and resources were more exclusionary. But, it used to be a place where women used to feel free. This was before women had to watch what they said to each other and what they did.
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