Lok Sabha Question No. 2323 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-09
Subject: Population of Tigers
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: NALIN KUMAR KATEEL, GOWDAR MALLIKARJUNAPPA SIDDESHWARA

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2323

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.03.2018

## Population of Tigers

## 2323.  SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL: SHRI G.M. SIDDESHWARA:

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

- (a) the  total  number  of  population  of  tigers  in  the  country  during  the  last  three  years,  State/UTwise;
- (b) whether the total number of tigers has increased during the last few years and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise;
- (c) the details of methodologies adopted for tiger census;
- (d) whether any accurate methodologies and scientific techniques have been adopted for the above census and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the  total  number  of  incidents  of  killing  and  poaching  of  tigers  reported  from  various  States during the last three years; and
- (f) whether the Government has put any appropriate mechanism in place to check such incidents and if so, the details thereof?

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE

## ANSWER CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) & (b) As per the assessment of Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey, 2014 using the refined / state-of-the art methodology, the tiger number has shown a 30% increase countrywide with  an  estimated  number  of  2226  (range  1945-2491)  as  compared  to  the  2010 estimation of 1706 (range 1520-1909 tigers).  The country level tiger estimation using the refined / state-of-the art methodology is done once in four years.  The details of tiger estimation pertaining to tiger landscapes in the country for the years 2010 and 2014 are at Annexure-I . The population of tigers, reserve-wise, is at Annexure-II .
- (c) & (d) The All India Tiger Estimation, 2014 was a refinement over the 2006 and 2010 exercise, wherein  robust  spatially  explicit  capture  recapture  protocols  using  joint  models  have been employed.  The method is peer reviewed in both national and international fora and has been published in an international scientific journal.  The national assessment 2018 is being conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority in collaboration with the  State  Forest  Departments,  Wildlife  Institute  of  India  and  National  level  Non Governmental Organisations, using the same methodology.
- (e) & (f) For the three year period, 2015 to 2017, 49 cases of tiger poaching and 40 cases of tiger body part seizures have been reported by the States.  To check such incidents, following steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Government  of  India  /  National  Tiger  Conservation Authority:

## 1. Measures for strengthening protection and monitoring of tigers:-

-  Providing  assistance  to  States  under  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  'Project Tiger' for protection, infrastructure and antipoaching operations (including deployment of Tiger Protection Force and Special Tiger Protection Force)
-  Providing  grant  through  NTCA  for  patrolling  in  tiger  rich  sensitive  forest  areas outside tiger reserves
-  Alerting the States as and when required
-  Disseminating of real time information of backward /  forward linkages relating to poachers / wildlife criminals.
-  Advising the States for combing forest floor to check snares / traps
-  Performing supervisory field visits through the National Tiger Conservation Authority and its regional offices
-  Using  information  technology  for  improved  surveillance  (e-Eye  system)  using thermal cameras
-  Launching  tiger  reserve  level  monitoring  using  camera  trap  to  keep  a  photo  ID database of individual tigers
-  Preparing a national database of individual tiger photo captures to establish linkage with body parts seized or dead tigers
-  Assisting States to deploy local workforce in a big way for protection to complement the  efforts  of  field  staff  [In  all,  approximately  25  lakh  mandays  are  generated annually with 50% central assistance amounting to around Rs. 25 crores (excluding matching  50%  share  given  by  States)  under  Project  Tiger.    Many  local  tribes constitute such local workforce (besides non-tribals), eg. Baigas, Gonds in Madhya Pradesh, Gonds in Maharashtra, Chenchus in Andhra Pradesh, Sholigas in Karnataka, Gujjars in Uttarakhand and Irulas in Tamil Nadu to name a few].
-  Initiative  taken  for  collaboration  of  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  and Wildlife  Crime Control Bureau towards an online tiger  /  wildlife crime  tracking  / reporting system in tiger reserves and to coordinate with INTERPOL for checking trans-border trade of wildlife products.
-  Insurance / Corpus Fund for staff of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve.
-  Motivating  tiger  reserve  administration  /  tiger  States  to  ensure  conviction  of criminals through pursuance of cases in different courts.
-  Bilateral  co-operation  with  neighbouring  countries  like  Nepal,  Bangladesh  and Bhutan besides Russia.
-  Sharing of information on seizure of body parts including skin of tigers among tiger range countries to ascertain source area.  India has already made a proposal in this regard in CITES CoP-17 in Johannesburg which was agreed by member countries.

## 2. Security Plan:-

The  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  along  with  TRAFFIC  India  had prepared generic guidelines for formulating security plan for each tiger reserve which is operationalized  in  the  overarching  Tiger  Conservation  Plan  which  is  legally  mandated under section 38 V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

## 3. Security Audit:-

The  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  has  developed  a  framework  for carrying  out  the  assessment  of  the  security  threats  and  for  formulating  site  specific security plan which is now being carried out in 25 different tiger reserves in Phase-I.

## 4. M-STrIPES :-

This  is  an  android  application  which  has  three  distinct  modules  namely  Patrol module,  Ecological  module  and  Conflict  module.  The  Patrol  module inter-alia is  a mechanism to ensure accountability of front line staff vis-à-vis antipoaching efforts and is useful for the tiger reserve management to strengthen the protection measures.

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  &  (b)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2323 ON POPULATION OF TIGERS DUE FOR REPLY ON 09.03.2018

## Details of tiger estimation pertaining to tiger landscapes in the country, for the years 2010 and 2014

|                                                                      | Tiger Population   | Tiger Population   |                              |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------|--------------------|------------------------------|
| State                                                                | 2010               | 2014               | Increase / Decrease / Stable |
| Shivalik-Gangetic Plain Landscape Complex                            |                    |                    |                              |
| Uttarakhand                                                          | 227 (199-256)      | 340                | Increase                     |
| Uttar Pradesh                                                        | 118 (113-124)      | 117                | Stable                       |
| Bihar                                                                | 8 (-)              | 28                 | Increase                     |
| Shivalik Gangetic                                                    | 353 (320-388)      | 485 (427-543)      | Increase                     |
| Central Indian Landscape Complex and Eastern Ghats Landscape Complex |                    |                    |                              |
| Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana)                                 | 72 (65-79)         | 68                 | Stable                       |
| Chhattisgarh                                                         | 26 (24-27)         | 46                 | Increase                     |
| Madhya Pradesh                                                       | 257 (213-301)      | 308                | Increase                     |
| Maharashtra                                                          | 169 (155-183)      | 190                | Increase                     |
| Odisha                                                               | 32 (20-44)         | 28                 | Stable                       |
| Rajasthan                                                            | 36 (35-37)         | 45                 | Increase                     |
| Jharkhand                                                            | 10 (6-14)          | 3+                 | Decrease*                    |
| Central India                                                        | 601 (518-685)      | 688 (596-780)      | Increase                     |
| Western Ghats Landscape Complex                                      |                    |                    |                              |
| Karnataka                                                            | 300 (280-320)      | 406                | Increase                     |
| Kerala                                                               | 71 (67-75)         | 136                | Increase                     |
| Tamil Nadu                                                           | 163 (153-173)      | 229                | Increase                     |
| Goa                                                                  | -                  | 5                  | Increase                     |
| Western Ghats                                                        | 534 (500-568)      | 776 (685-861)      | Increase                     |
| North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra Flood Plains                     |                    |                    |                              |
| Assam                                                                | 143 (113-173)      | 167                | Increase                     |
| Arunachal Pradesh                                                    | -                  | 28 ♣               | Increase                     |
| Mizoram                                                              | 5                  | 3+                 | Stable                       |
| North West Bengal                                                    | -                  | 3                  | **                           |
| North East Hills, and Brahmaputra                                    | 148 (118-178)      | 201 (174-212)      | Increase                     |
| Sunderbans                                                           | 70 (64-90)         | 76 (92-96)         | Stable                       |
| TOTAL                                                                | 1706 (1520-1909)   | 2226 (1945-2491)   | Increase                     |

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## ANNEXURE-II

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  &  (b)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2323 ON POPULATION OF TIGERS DUE FOR REPLY ON 09.03.2018

## Population of tigers, reserve-wise, as per Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in India, 2014

| Tiger Reserve              | State             |   Tiger Population |   Lower SE Limit |   Upper SE Limit |
|----------------------------|-------------------|--------------------|------------------|------------------|
| Achanakmar                 | Chhattisgarh      |                 11 |               10 |               12 |
| Anamalai                   | Tamil Nadu        |                 13 |               11 |               14 |
| Bandhavgarh                | Madhya Pradesh    |                 63 |               55 |               71 |
| Bandipur                   | Karnataka         |                120 |              107 |              134 |
| Bhadra                     | Karnataka         |                 22 |               20 |               25 |
| Biligiri Ranganatha Temple | Karnataka         |                 68 |               60 |               75 |
| Bor                        | Maharashtra       |                  5 |                3 |                6 |
| Buxa*                      | West Bengal       |                  2 |                2 |                2 |
| Corbett                    | Uttarakhand       |                215 |              169 |              261 |
| Dampa*                     | Mizoram           |                  3 |                3 |                3 |
| Dandeli-Anshi              | Karnataka         |                  5 |                3 |                6 |
| Dudhwa                     | Uttar Pradesh     |                 58 |               46 |               69 |
| Indravati                  | Chhattisgarh      |                 12 |               11 |               13 |
| Kalakad Mundanthurai       | Tamil Nadu        |                 10 |                9 |               11 |
| Kanha                      | Madhya Pradesh    |                 80 |               71 |               90 |
| Kaziranga                  | Assam             |                103 |               91 |              115 |
| Manas                      | Assam             |                 11 |                9 |               12 |
| Melghat                    | Maharashtra       |                 25 |               21 |               30 |
| Mudumalai                  | Tamil Nadu        |                 89 |               79 |               99 |
| Nagarahole                 | Karnataka         |                101 |               90 |              113 |
| Nagarjunasagar Srisailam   | Andhra Pradesh    |                 54 |               40 |               67 |
| Namdapha                   | Arunachal Pradesh |                 11 |                5 |               11 |
| Nameri                     | Assam             |                  5 |                4 |                5 |
| Nawegoan-Nagzira           | Maharashtra       |                  7 |                4 |               10 |
| Pakke                      | Arunachal Pradesh |                  7 |                6 |                8 |
| Palamau*                   | Jharkhand         |                  3 |                3 |                3 |
| Panna                      | Madhya Pradesh    |                 17 |               17 |               17 |
| Parambikulam               | Kerala            |                 19 |               17 |               21 |
| Pench                      | Madhya Pradesh    |                 43 |               36 |               49 |
| Pench                      | Maharashtra       |                 35 |               28 |               42 |
| Periyar                    | Kerala            |                 20 |               18 |               22 |
| Pilibhit                   | Uttar Pradesh     |                 25 |               19 |               30 |
| Ranthambhore               | Rajasthan         |                 37 |               30 |               41 |
| Sahyadri*                  | Maharashtra       |                  7 |                7 |                7 |
| Sanjay-Dubri               | Madhya Pradesh    |                  8 |                7 |               10 |
| Sariska                    | Rajasthan         |                  9 |                9 |                9 |
| Sathyamangalam             | Tamil Nadu        |                 72 |               64 |               80 |

| Satkosia        | Odisha         |    3 |    2 |    4 |
|-----------------|----------------|------|------|------|
| Satpura         | Madhya Pradesh |   26 |   22 |   30 |
| Similipal       | Odisha         |   17 |   14 |   19 |
| Sunderban       | West Bengal    |   68 |   57 |   86 |
| Tadoba-Andhari  | Maharashtra    |   51 |   44 |   58 |
| Udanti-Sitanadi | Chhattisgarh   |    4 |    3 |    4 |
| Valmiki         | Bihar          |   22 |   17 |   26 |
| Total           |                | 1586 | 1343 | 1820 |

*  Minimum  number  of  tigers  recorded  through  scat  DNA,  in  these  cases  a  standard  error  on  their estimate was not possible.

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