Project Tiger

While inaugurating the 3rd Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation in New Delhi on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the benefits of conservation tiger, India’s national animal. He expressed concern over shrinking of tiger habitats drastically across Tiger Range Countries. The situation has been aggravated further by the ongoing trafficking in body parts and derivatives of this magnificent animal. India is also facing the challenge of poaching and disruption in their ecosystems.

India has a long standing and successful track record of protecting its tigers. It launched “Project Tiger” in 1973. Its coverage has increased considerably from the initial 9 tiger reserves to 49 at present, covering core and buffer areas in an extent of 70244.10 sqkm. Due to collective efforts, there has been a rise of thirty per cent in the number of tigers. It has gone up from 1706 in 2010 to 2226 in 2014.

Use of modern technology, including intelligent, infrared and thermal cameras on a 24x7 basis is being promoted for surveillance against poaching in sensitive tiger reserves. Several protocols for smart patrolling and tiger monitoring have been evolved. Radio telemetry is also being promoted to monitor tigers. A national repository of tiger camera trap photo database is also being created. To do all this, the government has this year doubled allocation for tiger conservation, from Rs 185 crore Rs 380 crore.

As a country having more than seventy per cent of the global tiger population, India is committed to complement the initiatives of other Tiger Range Countries. It has bilateral arrangements with China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh to address issues of mutual concern for the tiger. India along with several Tiger Range Countries is a founder member of the Global Tiger Forum, which is headquartered in New Delhi.

Project Tiger is an ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change providing central assistance to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body of the Ministry, with an overarching supervisory / coordination role, performing functions as provided in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

The ADG (Project Tiger) and his officers also service the NTCA. The Regional Offices of the NTCA have been recently established at Bengaluru, Guwahati and Nagpur, each headed by an IGF and assisted by an AIG.