50 years of Project Tiger: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday released the survey on the tiger population in India, marking the completion of 50 years of Project Tiger earlier this month. The new figures put the population of big cats in India at 3,167 in 2022, up from 2,967 in 2018. Modi also launched the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA) on the occasion, and shared his government’s vision for tiger conservation.
Project Tiger was launched by the Government of India on April 1, 1973, when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. It aimed to save the tigers in Indian forests, and promote conservation of the majestic animal.
50 years of Project Tiger: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday released the survey on the tiger population in India, marking the completion of 50 years of Project Tiger earlier this month. The new figures put the population of big cats in India at 3,167 in 2022, up from 2,967 in 2018. Modi also launched the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA) on the occasion, and shared his government’s vision for tiger conservation.
Project Tiger was launched by the Government of India on April 1, 1973, when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. It aimed to save the tigers in Indian forests, and promote conservation of the majestic animal.
Here are some points about the 50-year-old project.
10 Things To Know About Project Tiger
1. Project Tiger has been the largest initiative of its kind in the world in terms of conservation of a species, according to the official website of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
2. When the project was launched, there were only nine tiger reserves under its purview, which included Ranthambore, Corbett and Kanha.
3. Project Tiger currently covers 51 reserves, spread over 18 states with tiger ranges — which is around 2.23% of India’s geographical area, according to the NTCA.
4. Conservationist Kailash Sankhala, who was previously the former director of Delhi Zoological Park (1965 to 1970), was the first director of Project Tiger. Known as the ‘Tiger Man of India’, Sankhala is credited with the success of the project by ensuring the survival of the Indian tiger.
5. India traditionally saw the practice of tiger hunting, and Sankhala is known to have been the first conservationist to raise voice for protection of the animal. He reportedly first spoke about it in 1956, seeking to help save tigers from the brink of extinction. It was his research that led to the launch of Project Tiger in 1973.
6. Project Tiger was converted into a statutory authority — NTCA — after adding provisions to the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, through the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006, which came into force with effect from September 4, 2006. The NTCA was constituted on the same date.
7. Project Tiger is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, which provides funding support to tiger range states for tiger conservation in the designated reserves.
8. Protection and management of the tiger reserves are done by the project states, who provide a grant matching to the Centre’s.
9. Addressing all ecological and administrative concerns for tiger conservation, the NTCA provides a statutory basis for the protection of tiger reserves, and also that of ecologically sensitive areas and endangered species with the help of strengthened institutional mechanisms.
10. NTCA objectives include “providing statutory authority to Project Tiger” so every stakeholder is legally bound to ensure compliance of its directives; providing for an oversight by Parliament; fostering Center-state accountability in the management of tiger reserves; and addressing the livelihood interests of people living in areas surrounding tiger reserves.