In Uttarakhand, Farmers Face a Different Problem: Monkeys

In a small corner of Uttarakhand, the problem isn’t Land Acquisition or industry, but destructive primates.

It’s not the Land Acquisition Bill that’s causing heartburn for farmers in a small corner of Uttarakhand. Here, a far more primitive battle rages, one between primates and humans. 

Maichor village is about 12 kilometres away from Almora town in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. By the look of it, it should be a fairly prosperous hamlet. It isn’t plagued by any of the problems that many villages have this high up in the mountains. There is ample water supply, flat land that makes ploughing relatively easy and the road is just a 7-minute walk away.

Monkeys, Langurs Destroying Crops

Over the last decade though, more and more households have abandoned farming. The reason is the wanton destruction caused by monkeys and to a lesser extent, langurs. Unlike other pests, like wild pigs, locals are not willing to cull the animals themselves, because of the primates’ sacred status. But the limits of their piousness are being tested.

“Earlier, it was just wild monkeys that came down from the forests. They used to be wary of people. Now though, city monkeys are released in the area. They aren’t afraid of us at all,” says Bachche Singh, a resident of Maichor.

Yusuf Tiwari, a former member of the Almora Municipal Corporation says that the authorities are under pressure as well.

We aren’t talking about a small number of animals here. Each troop can have hundreds of members. When they come into town and create havoc, the forest department comes under pressure and releases them ‘in the wild’. The traditional forests are gone though, and these monkeys just end up going into villages for an easy meal.
– Yusuf Tiwari

But isn’t there a way to deal with them?

Monkeys, an Election Issue

“In Himachal Pradesh, the destruction caused by animals became an election issue,” says, Ashok Pandey, a member of the Almora Municipal Corporation.

And the fruit grower lobby is strong there [Himachal Pradesh] and so important for the local economy that permission to cull the monkey population was granted by the BJP government, despite the religious status of monkeys.

Unlike Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand hasn’t sanctioned the culling of monkeys.

Mahesh Aarya, from Salla village (about 5km from Maichod) thinks the problem is also one of callousness.

People are coming from as far as Haldwani or even Delhi and releasing animals here. To them, it’s all a forest. But between these forests are our villages. Salla never had a monkey problem till they started releasing ‘city monkeys’ nearby.

Despite all the harm, no one is willing to kill the animals. Not just because they lack permission. So what’s the solution?

“Maybe the government could sterilise them?,” suggests one young lady who refused to give her name.

With even a debate on solutions yet to begin, the farmer in Uttarakhand is in a sad parody of Planet of the Apes.