During research for my MSc dissertation, I spent many days staying at anti-poaching camps across Satpura Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. Anti-poaching camps (APCs or just “camps”) are patrolling camps established by the forest department in the remote regions of a protected area to improve accessibility and enable on-ground patrolling to control instances of poaching and other illicit activities. One of these camps was the Khakrapara camp located at the edge of the Tawa reservoir and here, I had the pleasure of meeting Kakodiya kaka. Kakodiya kaka is a 70-year-old van majdoor (forest labourer) who lives at the Khakrapara camp along with a younger helper named Umesh. Together, they are responsible for conservation activities in their entire beat; they manage the camp, patrol the forests on foot, and hold vigil over the entire area. They stay at the anti-poaching camp 24x7 except once a year when they take a week off to go visit their families. They receive rations only when the beat guard visits the camp and in between these trips, the two watchers ration their stock with thrift, intelligence, and resilience. In the Indian conservation regime, Kakodiya kaka and Umesh are two among thousands of other van majdoors who are the true backbone of the Indian forest and protected area management system and yet, their contributions often go unnoticed.
Over recent times, I’ve come across some praise for the efforts of forest guards, the lowest rung in the forest department hierarchy. This, I would say, has been long overdue. But below them in the hierarchy are the van majdoors that facilitate actual on-ground conservation. Alas, there are no songs honouring these brave heroes, and I wish to change that. Here, I try to shed light on who van majdoors are and how they contribute to Indian conservation.
Cover Photo: A group of fire watchers clear out a fire line to reduce the possibility of forest fires during the dry season.
Who are the van majdoors?
They go by many names depending on where you meet them — van majdoors, watchers, forest watchers, forest labourers, madad-ganj or madad-nees (helping hands), and so on. In principle, they are meant to be helping hands for forest guards or one-star officers in the forest department and provide support for all forest management and conservation activities. Legally, they are daily-wage labourers employed by the forest department on a contractual basis for a wide range of activities. They stay in the forest in camps for extended periods of time. They are paid approximately Rs 10,000-15,000 per month and for this meagre wage, they risk their lives every day to protect our natural heritage.
What do they do?
Although it’s impossible to prepare an exhaustive list of everything that van majdoors do, their work may be classified into the following broad heads — camp management, patrolling and vigilance, supporting research, fire control, and habitat management.
Where do they live?
Van majdoors live in protection huts (also known as camps) inside forests and are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of these anti-poaching camps. The camps are their home, and they treat them as such. In most protected areas, these camps have bare minimum facilities, and the watchers stay here to keep a close tab on what goes on in the forest. They clean these camps and beautify them with flowering plants and vegetable gardens. They maintain activity logs of work undertaken as well as movement inside the forest. They also handle the camps’ wireless radio units.
They cook and manage their daily meals, and despite tight supplies the culture of hospitality is not lost on them. If you are a guest at one of these camps, you will always be treated with freshly brewed, delicious laal chai (black tea with lemongrass).
Daily routine of a van majdoor
As part of their duties, van majdoors are responsible for patrolling the forests in their beat. In tiger reserves, van majdoors walk close to 10 km everyday recording animal and human movement cues inside the reserve. They record signs of animal presence like footprints, droppings, kills by large carnivores, and actual sightings. They patrol the forests on foot risking encounters with predators like tigers and sloth bears. To protect themselves, all they have is a lathi (wooden stick) and their wits. They are also constantly on the lookout for any suspicious or illicit movement inside the forest, keeping poachers at bay.
Although categorised as unskilled labourers, van majdoors are actually very skilled at a variety of things. You could call them the “Swiss-army knife of forest conservation”. They have a deep knowledge of natural history and the flora and fauna of their forest. They also have extensive knowledge of the outdoors and wilderness survival tactics. Given their varied skillset and life experiences, they are useful for wildlife research. They are an integral part of data collection efforts in the field which includes walking line transects (surveying demarcated areas) or carrying out sign surveys (recording animal presence through observing signs). They are also proficient at handling, deploying, and maintaining camera traps.
During the dry season, especially in Central India, watchers are actively involved in fire control. Before the onset of the dry season, they cut out fire lines through controlled fires. As the dry season sets in, fire watchers (van majdoors hired specifically for the dry season) are constantly on vigil across the forest to detect a forest fire as soon as it starts. In case a fire does break out, these watchers rally to control it and minimise damage to flora and fauna.
Van majdoors are also actively involved in habitat management and restoration activities. They plant palatable grasses for herbivores and remove shrubs and weeds for management of grasslands and meadow development. They also control the spread of invasives like lantana, parthenium, amaranth, etc. In areas with active ongoing restoration efforts, van majdoors are the proponents of forest development. They plant saplings and actively protect them from being consumed by herbivores.
The next time you enjoy a walk through a pristine forest or experience a pleasant safari, please do thank a van majdoor for their service. While their contribution often goes unnoticed, in the absence of their tireless efforts, there wouldn’t be any forests or wildlife to enjoy.
About the contributor
Yashaswi Rao
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