Lok Sabha Question No. 4324 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-13
Subject: Sariska Tiger Reserve
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Jaskaur Meena

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4324 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2019

## Sariska Tiger Reserve

## 4324.  SHRIMATI JASKAUR MEENA:

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

- (a) whether the Government has formulated any scheme to improve the condition of Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether any concrete steps have been taken to improve the status of tigers which die in the absence of any safety measures and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether wild animals move into the surrounding settlement/habitations  due  to  lack  of strict demarcation of forest limits which causes loss of life and property including destruction of the standing crops of the farmers for which no due compensation is paid to them by the Forest department;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the measures taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (e) the number of settlements in Rajasthan that are situated near the said reserve which have been shifted to other places along with the number of such settlements proposed to be relocated?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a) & (b) The Government of India, under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger  has  taken  several  milestone  initiatives  to  strengthen  tiger  conservation  in  the country which inter alia covers the Sariska Tiger Reserve, which is at Annexure-I.
- (c) & (d) The  Government  of  India,  through  the  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  has  a three pronged strategy to manage  human-tiger negative interactions, which is elucidated at Annexure-II.
- (e) As on November 30, 2019, out of a total of 973 families in core/critical tiger habitat of the  Sariska  Tiger  Reserve,  671  families  have  been  relocated  while  action  has  been initiated to relocate a further 85 families.

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## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  &  (b)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4324 ON SARISKA TIGER RESERVE DUE FOR REPLY ON 13.12.2019

The Government of India, under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger has taken several milestone initiatives to strengthen tiger conservation in the country, and the same are as under:-

## 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 relates 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.    Indo-Russia  bilateral  took  place  in  September  2018  at  Moscow,  wherein  a 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.
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.).

During the 18 th CoP held at Geneva in August 2019, based on an intervention from India, a slew of decisions were adopted to intervene in territories which had facilities for keeping big cats as a reinforcement of decision 14.69.

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:
2.  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.
3.  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.
4.  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.
5.  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.
6.  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.
7.  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.
8.  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.

## OTHER MISCELLANEOUS STEPS

21. 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, Kaziranga (Assam) with 90% central assistance.
22. 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.
23. Implementing a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with tiger States, linked to fund flows for effective implementation of tiger conservation initiatives.
24. 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.

25. Initiatives taken for improving the field delivery through capacity building of field officials, apart from providing incentives.
26. 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.
27. All  India  Tiger,  Co-predators  and  Prey  Estimation,  2018:The  fourth  round  of  country level  tiger  status  assessment  completed  in  2018,  with  findings  indicating  an  increase  with  a  tiger population estimate of 2967 (lower and upper limits being 2603 and 3346 respectively), as compared to the last country level estimation of 2014, with an estimate of 2226 (lower and upper limits being 1945-2491 tigers), 2010 estimation with an estimation of 1706 (lower and upper limits being 15071896) and 2006 estimation, with an estimate of 1411 (lower and upper limits being 1165 and 1657). At present, India has around 75% 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).
28. Management  Effectiveness  Evaluation  (MEE) :  A  report  on  Management  Effectiveness Evaluation  (MEE)  of  Tiger  Reserves  was  released  in  July,  2019,  containing  the  fourth  round  of independent assessment based on refined criteria done in 2018 for 50 tiger reserves.  Out of 50 tiger reserves, 21 were rated as 'very good', 17 as 'good' and 12 as 'fair'.
29. Providing special assistance for mitigation of human-tiger conflicts in problematic areas.

## Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

30. 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.
31. A  'Standard  Operating  Procedure'  for  dealing  with  straying  tigers  in  human  dominated landscape has been issued.
32. A  'Standard  Operating  Procedure'  for  disposing  tiger/leopard  carcass/body  parts  has  been issued.
33. A Standard Operating Procedure has been issued to deal with orphaned / abandoned tiger cubs and old / injured tigers in the wild.
34. A 'Standard Operating Procedure' has been issued to deal with tiger depredation on livestock.
35. A  'Standard  Operating  Procedure'  for  Interstate  Co-ordination  amongst  tiger  reserves  that share boundary was issued by the NTCA.
36. A 'Standard Operating Procedure' has been issued for active management towards rehabilitation of tigers from source areas at landscape level.
37. 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.
38. A national repository of camera trap photo IDs of individual tigers has been created.
39. Field level workshops for capacity building of field officers to deal with straying tigers.
40. 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).
41. Economic Valuation of sixteen tiger reserves done in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Forest Management to assess value of the ecosystem services they provide and their potential role in climate change mitigation.
42. 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.
43. 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.
44. A joint  report  of  Bangladesh  has  been  brought  out  on  the  assessment  of  tiger  status  in  the Sundarbans.
45. National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau have established an online tiger / wildlife crime tracking / reporting system in tiger reserves.
46. 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.
47. 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.
48. Initiative has been taken to come out with a sub-continental level tiger estimation report along with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
49. To  assess  occupancy  of  tigers  in  high  altitude  landscapes,  a  collaborative  project  with  the Global Tiger Forum has been initiated.

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## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (c)  &  (d)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4324 ON SARISKA TIGER RESERVE DUE FOR REPLY ON 13.12.2019

The  Government  of  India,  through  the  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  has  a  three pronged strategy to manage human-tiger negative interactions:

- (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 man-animal conflict which are available in public domain:
- i. To deal with emergency arising due to straying of tigers in human dominated landscapes
- ii. To deal with tiger depredation on livestock
- iii. For active management towards rehabilitation of tigers from source areas at the landscape level.

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.

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