The Parvati and the T ati and the Tragopan: Conser agopan: Conservation and De ation and Development in elopment in the GReat Himalayan National Park

In 1999 villagers in the Kulu valley in the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India lost their ancestral rights to graze animals and collect medicinal plants in the area. This blow to their livelihood resulted from the creation of the Great Himalayan National Park, which carved out a vast area for wildlife conservation at the expense of resource use by local residents. However, after excluding villagers from the Park, a part of this protected area was released for the construction of a hydro-electric power project. In this paper we first document the seeming contradiction in the government's apparent conservation agenda; local livelihoods appear expendable in the interests of biodiversity conservation, but biodiversity may be sacrificed for national development. In the latter half of the paper we explore the nature of conservation and development politics, particularly as mediated by electoral considerations of the ruling government.