The spatial segregation of the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve, and the ensuing bifurcation of forest spaces catering to the tiger conservation program, provides an example manifesting operationalisation of a forest space at the crossroads of the political and the ecological. Conservation of tiger species cradled within the rhetoric of sustainable development is touted as essential means of harbouring biodiversity rich areas.The literature on conservation in general, and the Sundarban in particular have noted the various facets of exclusion, and violence entailed through the conservation infrastructure in the region. This article intends on extending this gamut of literature by looking into the symbiotic political process of marginalization and co-optation of local bodies and knowledge system in the institutionalisation of the tiger conservation program and broader goals of sustainable development in Sundarban, West Bengal.
In relation to understanding this politics of co-optation, this paper embraces an approach of traversing beyond the mere binary of knowledge- the dichotomy of state knowledge enforcing the model of conservation and local knowledge - which often gets highlighted through the literatures dealing with the operationalisation of conservation. By tapping into the conservation infrastructure in Sundarbans, this presentation aims to go beyond the dichotomisation of knowledge systems, through delving into the politics of interaction that exists in between two distinct forms of knowledge revolving around the issues of conservation and life in Sundarban. To this end, the operationalisation of conservation through Boat Licensing Certificates ( BLCs) has been selected. Going beyond the dichotomies of knowledge, through understanding the power relation and politics of reciprocity in between two knowledge systems also enables this study to throw light into the procedures involved in the making of the state in Sundarban region .
