The story, sources confirmed, started in January 1999, when WWF India brought to the notice of the Government of India that WWF International brought out a report called `A Biodiversity Assessment and Gap Analysis of the Himalayas,' with inaccurate maps.

The report was prepared for the Himalaya Ecoregional Cooperation Meeting held in Kathmandu in February 1998. It was organised and funded by the UNDP and prepared by the Conservation Science Programme of the WWF-US and theUNDP. There were a number of maps of India which became the centre of a subsequent storm.

Early in August, two national English dailies carried reports of how WWF International, which is funding the $1.2 million WWF Tiger Conservation Programme (WWF TCP), had been printing inaccurate maps of India.

In the maps, alongside the international boundary is a dotted line that is indexed as "disputed boundary", giving the impression that Arunachal Pradesh, some parts of north western Uttar Pradesh and a big part of Jammu & Kashmir are disputed.

When the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) brought this to the notice of WWF International, the latter asked for time till September. By that time, the matter would be taken care of, WWF International said. But sources in the Ministry of Environment and Forests confirmed that publications were brought out in June 1999 and August 1999 (the latter called `Tigers in the Wild--A Status Report', produced by WWF International) which again carried inaccurate maps ofIndia.

"The government of India has withdrawn the permission given to WWF International to open a regional office in India for the Tiger Conservation Programme as they have not been able to fulfil their commitment to rectify the inaccuracies shown in the maps of India brought out by their publications," the sources in the Ministry of Environment and Forests said.

That is not all that is wrong. When the Tiger Conservation Programme started in January 1997, the understanding was that it was going to be conducted within the framework agreement between WWF International and WWF India. The preamble to the agreement said "The NO (national organisation) is agreed, in accordance with this Agreement, to be the fully authorised and exclusive representative of WWF International in the territory of India, as defined also in the NO's constitutional documents (Annex III)...." This means that the WWF India, or more specifically, the board of trustees of WWF India, have to be in the know of any programme conducted inIndia.

This has evidently not been the case. Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, an ex-trustee who served on the board for some time when the tiger project was on, said: "The board of trustees (of WWF India) never received any clear communication about the money raised for the Tiger Conservation Programme abroad (the money is raised in the US, the UK and the Netherlands), and how it was spent." In the April 1998 to April 1999 issues of Tiger Update, the quarterly magazine brought out by WWF International, there is not a single mention of WWF India.

Most of the tiger project's money is spent on equipment. Sources have confirmed that 75 per cent of the money is spent on jeeps, boats, motorcycles, jackets for guards, tranquiliser guns, etc, and a portion is spent on cattle compensation scheme to prevent villagers in some sanctuaries from poisoning tigers that have killed cattle.

"This is not where the real problem lies. What has to be addressed is the relationship between the man and the tiger," Ghosh says.