Lok Sabha Question No. 3962 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-10
Subject: National Tiger Conservation Authority
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: HEMANT TUKARAM GODSE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3962

TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.08.2018

## National Tiger Conservation Authority

## 3962.  SHRI GODSE HEMANT TUKARAM:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that about hundreds of tigers have died across the country upto December,  2017  as  per  records  of  the  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority (NTCA) and TRAFFIC India, the wildlife trade monitoring programme;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with reasons attributed for their deaths;
- (c) whether many of the tigers have died unnaturally and after being caught in snares or traps laid by poachers;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to protect tigers from unnatural death and prevent poaching;
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  assessed  the  impact  of  such  unnatural  deaths  on  the growth of the number of tigers and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether  the  Government  is  considering  the  use  of  drones  to  patrol  the  natural habitats  of  tigers  and  other  endangered  species  to  prevent  poaching  and  if  so,  the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) 122 tigers died across the country in 2016 while 115 died in 2017.
- (b) & (c) From 2012-17, 55% of tigers have died due to natural causes, 7% have died due  to  unnatural  causes  not  attributable  to  poaching,  23%  have  died  due  to poaching while 15% have been tiger body part /derivative seizures.
- (d) The Government of India, through Project Tiger / National Tiger Conservation Authority, has taken a number of initiatives towards antipoaching operations, which, inter alia, include creation of Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF), formulation  of  Security  Plan  guidelines  which  form  part  of  the  overarching Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP), development of a security audit framework, creation of an online wildlife  crime  database,  institutionalizing  android application  based  patrolling  using  M-STrIPES  (Management  System  for Tigers, Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) for effective area domination  and  accountability,  implementation  of  a  Standard  Operating Procedure (SOP) for dealing with tiger deaths, intensification of international

cooperation to control trans-boundary illegal trade in wildlife, besides financial  assistance  for  antipoaching  initiatives  under  the  ongoing  Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger.

- (e) Unnatural deaths have not had an impact on tiger numbers which are growing at the rate of 5.8% per annum.
- (f) The  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  has  a  collaborative  project  with the Wildlife Institute of India to customize drones for various tasks inter alia including surveillance, in 13 tiger landscapes.

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