Sundarbans inhabitants have long been neglected by researchers and conservationists because they primarily focus on the natural flora and fauna of the region. Their most important concern is the preservation of the Royal Bengal Tiger population in the area. It is the last remaining tiger population in a mangrove forest and was previously on the verge of extinction due to the unfavorable views during British rule. Overall, the Government of India has sided with the tigers and has provided them with an unequally large distribution of resources compared to the human inhabitants. Public works have also been severely neglected because the government hopes that the inhabitants will move out of the forest if it stays underdeveloped. The events that unfolded at Morichjhanpi, an island within the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, is one of the most well-known accounts of conservation efforts in the Sundarbans created a socially unjust situation.
After the partition of India, many people fled from modern-day Bangladesh and became refugees in India. These people, who were amongst the poorest in Bangladesh, lived in government resettlement camps throughout India. Many of these camps had terrible conditions and the refugees were treated more like prisoners than anything else. In 1978, around 30,000 Bengali refugees broke out of their camp in central India and sailed to Morichjhanpi. Within weeks, the refugees had cleared the forest and created a settlement on the island. However, Morichjhanpi was located within the Reserve Forest and, therefore, it was against the law for anybody to settle there. The Government of India was determined to remove the new inhabitants from the island and, in 1979, decided to set up a blockade around Morichjhanpi. When the blockade began, media was denied access to the island and were banned on reporting anything connected to the events as they unfolded. The blockade was extremely brutal and was conducted with no regard towards the refugees. According to the Udbastu Unnayanshil Samiti (the Refugee Development Association), within the first month of the blockade, 663 people died due to police firings, starvation, and a lack of medical supplies. Also, more than 1,000 huts were burned down and 163 boats were confiscated by the authorities. In the end, all of the remaining refugees were forcibly removed from Morichjhanpi by police.
In this circumstance, the government deemed the survival of the Royal Bengal Tiger as more important compared to the lives of the refugees. This unequal treatment turned inhabitants, who once venerated and protected tigers, against them and many inhabitants began killing tigers whenever they had the chance. There is also a common belief that the tigers became man-eaters after the violent event on Morichjhanpi due to the government’s. Overall, this incident created two drastically opposing views towards the Royal Bengal Tiger. The first, which is primarily the view of government officialsand outsiders, see the tiger as the national animal and associates it with royalty. The second view, which is primarily held by Sundarbans inhabitants, see the tiger as a once gentle animal that was transformed into a man-eater.
