The tiger population across India has increased at a rate of six per cent per annum with an estimated number of 3682 (range 3167-3925) as compared to the 2018 estimation of 2967 (range 2603-3346) and 2014 estimation of 2226 (range 1945-2491), according to the All India Tiger Estimation done in 2022.
According to the report, of the total of 3682 tigers found across India, at least 1439 are in central India while 1087 tigers have been found in the Western Ghats region. A total of 819 tigers have been found in the Shivalik Gangetic plain while the remaining have been identified in the Northeast hills and Sundarbans. Among the states, Madhya Pradesh is home to the largest population of 785 big cats closely followed by Karnataka with 563 tigers spotted during the survey conducted in 2022.
The government has attributed to this increase to the three pronged strategy advocated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority has advocated to manage human-wildlife negative interactions through:
(i) Material and logistical support: Funding support through the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger, is provided to tiger reserves for acquiring capacity in terms of infrastructure and material, to deal with tigers dispersing out of source areas. These are solicited by tiger reserves through an Annual Plan of Operation (APO) every year which stems out from an overarching Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP), mandated under Section 38 V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Inter alia, activities such as payment of ex-gratia and compensation, periodic awareness campaigns to sensitize, guide and advise the general populace on man-animal conflict, dissemination of information through various forms of media, procurement of immobilization equipment, drugs, training and capacity building of forest staff to deal with conflict events are generally solicited.
(ii) Restricting habitat interventions: Based on the carrying capacity of tigers in a tiger reserve, habitat interventions are restricted through an overarching TCP. In case tiger numbers are at carrying capacity levels, it is advised that habitat interventions should be limited so that there is no excessive spill over of wildlife including tigers thereby minimizing man-animal conflict. Further, in buffer areas around tiger reserves, habitat interventions are restricted such that they are sub-optimal vis-à-vis the core/critical tiger habitat areas, judicious enough to facilitate dispersal to other rich habitat areas only.
(iii) Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs): The National Tiger Conservation Authority has issued following three SOPs to deal with human-animal conflict, which are available in public domain which include dealing with emergency arising due to straying of tigers in human dominated landscapes, tiger depredation on livestock, and active management towards rehabilitation of tigers from source areas at the landscape level.
Of the total of 3682 tigers found across India, at least 1439 are in central India while 1087 tigers have been found in the Western Ghats region. A total of 819 tigers have been found in the Shivalik Gangetic plain while the remaining have been identified in the Northeast hills and Sundarbans. Among the states, Madhya Pradesh is home to the largest population of 785 big cats closely followed by Karnataka with 563 tigers spotted during the survey conducted in 2022.
The three SOPs inter alia include the issue of managing dispersing tigers, managing livestock kills so as to reduce conflict as well as relocating tigers from source areas to areas where density of tiger is low, so that conflict in rich source areas does not occur.
Also according to tiger conservation plans, need-based and site-specific management interventions are undertaken by the tiger reserves for improving the quality of wildlife habitat and funding support for these activities is provided under the Project Tiger Component of the ongoing centrally sponsored scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats.
In 1973, the government of India has taken a pioneering initiative for conserving its national animal, the tiger, by launching the “Project Tiger”. From nine tiger reserves since its formative years, the Project Tiger coverage has increased to 51 at present, spread out in 18 of our tiger range states. This amounts to around 2.23 per cent of the geographical area of our country.
The tiger reserves are constituted on a core/buffer strategy. The core areas have the legal status of a national park or a sanctuary, whereas the buffer or peripheral areas are a mix of forest and non-forest land, managed as a multiple use area. The Project Tiger aims to foster an exclusive tiger agenda in the core areas of tiger reserves, with an inclusive people oriented agenda in the buffer.
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.