Lok Sabha Question No. 1210 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-06-28
Subject: Conservation of Bengal Tigers
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Khagen Murmu, Sukanta Majumdar

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1210

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.06.2019

## Conservation of Bengal Tigers

## 1210.  SHRI KHAGEN MURMU:

## DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  Bengal  Tigers  may  not  survive  climate  change, according to a recent report by the United Nations and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has taken note that a study by the World Wide Fund for Nature has projected  that  a  sea  level  rise  of  11  inches  could  reduce  the  number  of  tigers  in  the Sundarbans by 96 per cent within a few decades and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  habitat  loss,  hunting  and  illegal  trade  of  animal  organs/parts  have  diminished  the global population of tigers from around 100,000 to fewer than 4,000;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the steps taken by the Government for conservation of Bengal Tigers in the country?

## ANSWER

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

## (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a) & (b) No such studies have been conducted by the Government of India.
- (c) & (d) Action  has  been  taken  to  reverse  this  trend  and  since,  2006,  population  of  tigers  in India is showing an increasing trend as at Annexure-I.
- (e) Milestone  initiatives  taken  by  the  Government  of  India  through  the  National  Tiger Conservation Authority for conservation of tigers are at Annexure-II .

***

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (c)  &  (d)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1210 ON CONSERVATION OF BENGAL TIGERS DUE FOR REPLY ON 28.06.2019

## Details of tiger estimation pertaining to tiger landscapes in the country, for the years 2006, 2010 and 2014

| State                                                                | Tiger Population   | Tiger Population   | Tiger Population   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
|                                                                      | 2006               | 2010               | 2014               |
| Shivalik-Gangetic Plain Landscape Complex                            |                    |                    |                    |
| Uttarakhand                                                          | 178                | 227                | 340                |
| Uttar Pradesh                                                        | 109                | 118                | 117                |
| Bihar                                                                | 10                 | 8                  | 28                 |
| Shivalik Gangetic                                                    | 297                | 353                | 485                |
| Central Indian Landscape Complex and Eastern Ghats Landscape Complex |                    |                    |                    |
| Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana)                                 | 95                 | 72                 | 68                 |
| Chhattisgarh                                                         | 26                 | 26                 | 46                 |
| Madhya Pradesh                                                       | 300                | 257                | 308                |
| Maharashtra                                                          | 103                | 169                | 190                |
| Odisha                                                               | 45                 | 32                 | 28                 |
| Rajasthan                                                            | 32                 | 36                 | 45                 |
| Jharkhand                                                            | -                  | 10                 | 3*                 |
| Central India                                                        | 601                | 601                | 688                |
| Western Ghats Landscape Complex                                      |                    |                    |                    |
| Karnataka                                                            | 290                | 300                | 406                |
| Kerala                                                               | 46                 | 71                 | 136                |
| Tamil Nadu                                                           | 76                 | 163                | 229                |
| Goa                                                                  | -                  | -                  | 5                  |
| Western Ghats                                                        | 412                | 534                | 776                |
| North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra Flood Plains                     |                    |                    |                    |
| Assam                                                                | 70                 | 143                | 167                |
| Arunachal Pradesh                                                    | 14                 | -                  | 28 ♣               |
| Mizoram                                                              | 6                  | 5                  | 3*                 |
| North West Bengal                                                    | 10                 | -                  | 3                  |
| North East Hills, and Brahmaputra                                    | 100                | 148                | 201                |
| Sunderbans                                                           | -                  | 70                 | 76                 |
| TOTAL                                                                | 1411               | 1706               | 2226               |

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (e)  OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1210 ON CONSERVATION OF BENGAL TIGERS DUE FOR REPLY ON 28.06.2019

## Milestone  initiatives  taken  by  the  Government  of  India  through  the  National  Tiger  Conservation Authority for tiger conservation

## Legal steps

1. Amendment  of  the  Wild  Life  (Protection)  Act,  1972  in  2006  to  provide  enabling  provisions  for constituting  the  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  under  section  38  IV  B  and  the  Tiger  and  Other Endangered Species Crime Control Bureau under section 38 IV C.
2. Enhancement of punishment for offence in relation to the core area of  a  tiger reserve  or  where  the offence relate to hunting in the tiger reserves or altering the boundaries of tiger reserves, etc.
3. Comprehensive guidelines under section 38O 1 (c) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 issued for Project Tiger and Tourism in Tiger Reserves on 15 th October, 2012.

## Administrative steps

4. Constitution of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) with effect from the 4 th September, 2006,  for  strengthening  tiger  conservation  by,  interalia,  ensuring  normative  standards  in  tiger  reserve management, preparation of reserve specific tiger conservation plan, laying down annual audit report before Parliament,  constituting  State  level  Steering  Committees  under  the  Chairmanship  of  Chief  Ministers  and establishment of Tiger Conservation Foundation.
5. Constitution  of  a  multidisciplinary  Tiger  and  Other  Endangered  Species  Crime  Control  Bureau (Wildlife  Crime  Control  Bureau)  with  effect  from  the  6 th June,  2007  to  effectively  control  illegal  trade  in wildlife.
6. Strengthening  of  antipoaching  activities,  including  special  strategy  for  monsoon  patrolling,  by providing funding support to tiger reserve States, as proposed by them, for deployment of antipoaching squads involving ex-army personnel or home guards, apart from workforce comprising of local people, in addition to strengthening of communication and wireless facilities.
7. In-principle approval has been accorded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority for creation of new  tiger  reserves,  and  the  sites  are:  Sunabeda  (Odisha)  and  Guru  Ghasidas  (Chhattisgarh).    The  State Governments  have  been  advised  to  send  proposals  for  declaring  the  following  areas  as  tiger  reserves:  (i) Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary (Goa), (ii) Srivilliputhur Grizzled Giant Squirrel / Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuaries / Varushanadu  Valley  (Tamil  Nadu),  (iii)  Dibang  Wildlife  Sanctuary  (Arunachal  Pradesh),  (iv)  Cauveri-MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary (Karnataka) and (v) Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary (Uttarakhand).
8. Rajaji  National  Park  (Uttarakhand),  Orang  National  Park  (Assam)  &  Kamlang  Wildlife  Sanctuary (Arunachal Pradesh) have been notified as 48 th , 49 th & 50 th Tiger Reserves.
9. The revised  Project Tiger guidelines  have  been  issued  to  State  Governments  for  strengthening  tiger conservation, which apart from ongoing activities, inter alia, include financial support to States for enhanced village relocation or rehabilitation package for people living in core or critical tiger habitats (from Rs. 1 lakh per  family  to  Rs.  10  lakhs  per  family),  rehabilitation  or  resettlement  of  communities  involved  in  traditional hunting, mainstreaming livelihood and wildlife concerns in forests outside tiger reserves and fostering corridor conservation through restorative strategy to arrest habitat fragmentation.
10. A scientific methodology for estimating tiger (including co-predators, prey animals and assessment of habitat status) has been evolved and mainstreamed.  The findings of this estimation and assessment are bench marks for future tiger conservation strategy.
11. The  18  tiger States have  notified the core/critical tiger habitat (40145.30  sq. km.), and  the buffer/peripheral area (32603.72 sq.km.) of all the 50 tiger reserves in the country, under section 38V of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006.
12.    Regional Offices of the National Tiger Conservation Authority are operational at Nagpur, Bengaluru and Guwahati headed by an Inspector General of Forests.

## Financial steps

13. Financial and technical help is provided to the State Governments under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes,  such  as  'Project  Tiger'  and  'Integrated  Development  of  Wildlife  Habitats'  for  enhancing  the capacity and infrastructure of the State Governments for providing effective protection to wild animals.

## International Cooperation

14. India has a bilateral understanding with Nepal on controlling trans-boundary illegal trade in wildlife and conservation, apart from a protocol on tiger conservation with China.
15. A protocol has been signed in September, 2011 with Bangladesh for conservation of the Royal Bengal Tiger of the Sunderban.
16. A sub-group on tiger and leopard conservation has been constituted for cooperation with the Russian Federation.
17. India  is  the  founder  member  of  the  Global  Tiger  Forum  of  Tiger  Range  Countries  for  addressing international issues related to tiger conservation.
18. During the 14 th meeting of the Conference of Parties to CITES, which was held from 3 rd to 15 th June, 2007 at The Hague, India introduced a resolution along with China, Nepal and the Russian Federation, with direction  to  Parties  with  operations  breeding  tigers  on  a  commercial  scale,  for  restricting  such  captive populations to a level supportive only to conserving wild tigers.  The resolution was adopted as a decision with minor  amendments.  Further,  India  made  an  intervention  appealing  to  China  to  phase  out  tiger  farming  and eliminate stockpiles of Asian big cats body parts and derivatives.  The importance of continuing the ban on trade of body parts of tigers was emphasized.
19. Based  on  India's  strong  intervention  during  the  62 nd meeting  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) at Geneva from 23-27  July,  2012,  the  Convention  on  International  Trade  in  Endangered  Species  of  Wild  Fauna  and  Flora Secretariat has issued a notification No. 2012/054 dated the 3 rd September, 2012 to Parties to fully implement Decision  14.69  and  report  to  the  Secretariat  by  25  September,  2012  (Progress  made  on  restricting  captive breeding operations of tigers etc.).
20. The 3 rd Asia  Ministerial  Conference  (3  AMC)  was organized in New Delhi from  12-14 April 2016. Inspired by the statement of Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, during this conference that 'conservation of tigers is not a choice, it is an imperative', to achieve the concrete results of ensuring the conservation of tigers in the  wild  and  their  habitats  by  2022,  the  representatives  of  the  Governments  of  the  Tiger  Range  Countries resolved to:
8.  Accelerate implementation of  the  Global  Tiger  Recovery  Programme  (GTRP)/National Tiger Recovery Programme (NTRP) and agreed actions from the above-mentioned declarations, review and  update  priority  and  differentiated  action  plans,  and  track  progress  through  mutual  and systematic reporting and evaluation.
9.  Align  development  and  tiger  conservation in  a  mutually  complementary  manner  by reorienting  development  strategies  to  mainstream  the  concerns  of tiger  conservation,  such  as  by integrating  tiger  and  wildlife  safeguards  in  infrastructure  at  the  landscape  level,  developing partnerships with business groups, and strong engagement with local stakeholders.
10.  Leverage  funding  and  technical  support from  international organisations, bilateral  and multilateral  financial  institutions,  foundations,  civil  society  organisations,  private  sector,  and climate funds, in addition to TRC governments.
11.  Recognise  and  enhance  the  importance  of  tiger  habitats  by  promoting  them  as providing ecosystem services, as engines of economic growth and helping to address climate   change.
12.  Emphasize recovery of tiger populations in areas with low tiger densities and restoration in areas  from which they have been extirpated by using successful programs of tiger reintroduction and rehabilitation of their habitats and prey.
13.  Strengthen co-operation at the highest levels of government to combat wildlife crime, address the demand for tiger products, and increase formal and informal transboundary coordination.
14.  Enhance knowledge  sharing and capacity  development  for  all stakeholders  and  increase

the use of technology , including smart tools, monitoring protocols, and information systems, to improve management effectiveness.

21. Indo-Russia bilateral took place wherein tripartite  MOU  between  the  National  Tiger Conservation  Authority,  Wildlife  Institute  of  India  and  A.N.  Severstov  Institute  of  Ecology  & Evaluation was agreed upon and signed on 4.12.2018.

## OTHER MISCELLANEOUS STEPS

22. Creation of Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF): -The Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) has been  made  operational  in the States of  Karnataka  (Bandipur),  Maharashtra  (Pench,  Tadoba-Andhari, Nawegaon-Nagzira, Melghat), Rajasthan (Ranthambhore) and Odisha (Similipal), out of 13 initially selected tiger reserves, with 60% central assistance under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger.
23. In  collaboration  with  TRAFFIC-INDIA,  an online  tiger  mortality  data  base is  operational  and Generic Guidelines for preparation of reserve specific Security Plan have been prepared which form a basis for antipoaching strategies in the overarching Tiger Conservation Plan.
24. Implementing  a  tripartite  Memorandum  of  Understanding  (MOU)  with  tiger  States,  linked  to  fund flows for effective implementation of tiger conservation initiatives.
25. Steps  taken  for  modernizing  the  infrastructure  and  field  protection,  besides  launching  'Monitoring system for Tigers' Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-STrIPES)' for effective field patrolling and monitoring.  The M-STrIPES application has been made android based with three distinct modules, viz. patrol, ecological and conflict.
26. Initiatives taken for improving the field delivery through capacity building of field officials, apart from providing incentives.
27. As a part of active management to rebuild Sariska and Panna Tiger Reserves where tigers have become locally extinct, reintroduction of tigers and tigresses have been done.  The successful reintroduction of wild tigers in Panna is a unique exercise and one of a kind in the world. The reintroduced tigresses are breeding. The tiger reintroduction initiative at Panna (MP) has been very successful.
28. All India Tiger, Co-predators and Prey Estimation, 2014:The third round of country level tiger status assessment completed in 2014, with findings indicating an increase with a tiger population estimate of 2226  (lower  and  upper  limits  being  1945  and  2491  respectively),  as  compared  to  the  last  country  level estimation  of  2010,  with  an  estimate  of  1706  (lower  and  upper  limits  being  1520-1909  tigers),  and  2006 estimation,  with  an  estimate  of  1411  (lower  and  upper  limits  being  1165  and  1657).    At  present,  India  has around 70% of tiger population and its source areas amongst the 13 tiger range countries in the world, owing to its long history of conserving the species through Project Tiger (2.21% of country's geographical area spread out in 50 tiger reserves in 18 States).
29. Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) :  A  report  on  Management  Effectiveness  Evaluation (MEE) of Tiger Reserves was released in January, 2015, containing the third round of independent assessment based on refined criteria done in 2013-14 for 43 tiger reserves.  Out of 43 tiger reserves, 17 were rated as 'very good', 16 as 'good' and 10 as 'fair'.
30. Providing special assistance for mitigation of human-tiger conflicts in problematic areas.

## Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

31. A 'Standard Operating Procedure' for dealing with tiger deaths has been issued, based on advisories of Project Tiger / National Tiger Conservation Authority, with inputs from Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, State officials and experts, fine tuned to meet the present challenges.
32. A 'Standard Operating Procedure' for dealing with straying tigers in human dominated landscape has been issued.
33. A 'Standard Operating Procedure' for disposing tiger/leopard carcass/body parts has been issued.
34. A Standard Operating Procedure has been issued to deal with orphaned / abandoned tiger cubs and old / injured tigers in the wild.
35. A 'Standard Operating Procedure' has been issued to deal with tiger depredation on livestock.
36. A  'Standard  Operating  Procedure'  for  Interstate  Co-ordination  amongst  tiger  reserves  that  share boundary was issued by the NTCA.
37. A 'Standard  Operating  Procedure'  has  been  issued  for  active  management  towards  rehabilitation  of tigers from source areas at landscape level.
38. Phase-IV tiger reserve level, continuous monitoring of tigers using camera traps and building up data on photo captures of individual tigers, has been institutionalized.
39. A national repository of camera trap photo IDs of individual tigers has been created.
40. Field level workshops for capacity building of field officers to deal with straying tigers.
41. On completion of pilot e-surveillance project in Corbett Tiger Reserve (Uttarakhand), central assistance (100%) has been provided for installing 24X7 e-surveillance at Kaziranga Tiger Reserve (Assam) and fringes of Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary (Madhya Pradesh).
42. Economic Valuation of six tiger reserves done  in  collaboration  with  the  Indian  Institute  of  Forest Management.  Similar exercise is being done for 10 more tiger reserves.
43. Trial of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for monitoring done in the Panna Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh), in  collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India and now getting extended to 13 other tiger reserves too. Frontline staff has been capacity built and first set of equipment handed over at the Panna Tiger Reserve.
44. Assessment of Status, Density and Change in Forest Cover in and around tiger reserves of the Shivalik Gangetic Plain Landscape done in collaboration with the Forest Survey of India.
45. A joint report of Bangladesh has been brought out on the assessment of tiger status in the Sundarbans.
46. National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau have established an online tiger / wildlife crime tracking / reporting system in tiger reserves.
47. Based  on  International  standards,  security  audit  framework  of  the  NTCA  has  been  validated  for implementing across all tiger reserves.  25 tiger reserves have been assessed for their security protocols through this framework.
48. To assess status of tiger bearing areas outside tiger reserves, the CA|TS (Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards) framework is being used, which helps identify inadequacies in management interventions in such areas  so  that  gaps  can  be  addressed  through  appropriate  strategies.    2  of  the  4  global  sites  accredited  with CA|TS certification are in India, namely the Ramnagar and Lansdowne Forests Divisions in Uttarakhand.
49. Initiative  has  been  taken  to  come  out  with  a  sub-continental  level  tiger  estimation  report  along  with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
50. To assess occupancy of tigers in high altitude landscapes, a collaborative project with the Global Tiger Forum has been initiated.