Lok Sabha Question No. 1862 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-21
Subject: Conservation of Tigers
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: PRABHAS KUMAR SINGH

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1862

TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.12.2018

## Conservation of Tigers

## 1862.  DR. PRABHAS KUMAR SINGH:

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

- (a) the total number of tigers in the country at present, State/UT-wise;
- (b) the number of incidents of poaching of tigers registered during the last four years;
- (c) the steps being taken by the Government for the conservation of tigers in the country; and
- (d) whether there is any system in place to review the success or failure of such initiatives and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) As  per  the  assessment  of  Status  of  Tigers,  Co-predators  and  Prey,  2014  using  the  refined methodology, the tiger number in India is estimated at 2226 (range 1945-2491) as compared to 2010 estimate of 1706 (range 1520-1909 tigers).  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 .
- (b) Number of confirmed tiger poaching and seizure cases are as follows:
- (c) The Government of India under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger supports the following activities for tiger conservation:
1. Stepping up protection: (antipoaching squad/Tiger Protection Force deployment).
2. Deciding  inviolate  spaces  for  wildlife  and  relocation  of  villagers  from  core  or  critical tiger habitats in Tiger Reserves within a timeframe and settlement of rights.
3. Strengthening of infrastructure within Tiger Reserves.
4. Habitat improvement and water development.
5. Addressing  man-animal  conflict  (ensuring  uniform,  timely  compensation  for  human deaths  due  to  wild  animals,  livestock  depredation  by  carnivores,  crop  depredation  by wild ungulates) (compensation for crop loss is a new component):
6. Co-existence agenda in buffer or fringe areas.
7. Rehabilitation of traditional hunting tribes living around tiger reserves.
8. Research and field equipments.
9. Staff development and capacity building.
10.  Mainstreaming wildlife concerns in tiger bearing forests and fostering corridor conservation  through  restorative  strategy  involving  locals  to  arrest  fragmentation  of habitats.
11.  Safeguards and Retrofitting measures in the interest of wildlife conservation.
12.  Providing basic infrastructure.
13.  Independent monitoring and evaluation of tiger reserves.
14.  Establishment and development of new tiger reserves.
15.  Provision of Project Allowance to staff of Project Tiger.
16.  Staff welfare activities.
17.  Fostering Tourism or Ecotourism in tiger reserves.

|   Year |   Poaching |   Seizure |
|--------|------------|-----------|
|   2014 |          9 |        12 |
|   2015 |         11 |        10 |
|   2016 |         21 |        22 |
|   2017 |         18 |        10 |

Besides, for protection of tigers, following steps have been taken:

- (i) Generic guidelines on preparation of Security Plan which forms part of the overarching Tiger  Conservation  Plan  (TCP),  mandated  under  the  Wildlife  (Protection)  Act,  1972 have been circulated.
- (ii) A protocol to conduct security audit of tiger reserves has been instituted.
- (iii) Advisory for Monsoon Patrolling has been issued to all tiger reserves.
- (iv) Advisory to deal with mortality due to electrocution has been circulated.
- (v) M-STrIPES patrol application (android based) has been provided to all tiger reserves to ensure effective area domination as well as accountability.
- (vi) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have been customized in a special project and first set of equipment handed over to the Panna Tiger Reserve after capacity building.
- (vii) Financial  assistance  under  ongoing  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Project  Tiger  is provided to employ  anti-poaching staff, infrastructure development besides for procuring equipment for anti-poaching and assistance for legal support and intelligence gathering.
- (viii) Financial  assistance  to  raise,  arm  and  deploy  the  Special  Tiger  Protection  Force (STPF).
- (ix) Providing grant through NTCA for patrolling in tiger rich sensitive forest areas outside tiger reserves.
- (x) Alerting the States as and when required and transmitting backward / forward linkages of information relating to poachers.
- (xi) Advising the States for combing forest floor to check snares / traps.
- (xii) Performing supervisory field visits through the National Tiger Conservation Authority and its regional offices.
- (xiii) Launching tiger reserve level monitoring using camera trap to keep a photo ID database of individual tigers.
- (xiv) Preparing  a  national  database  of  individual  tiger  photo  captures  to  establish  linkage with body parts seized or dead tigers.
- (xv) 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.
- (xvi) Bilateral co-operation with neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
- (xvii) Sharing of information on seizure of body parts including skin of tigers among tiger range countries to ascertain source area.  India made a proposal in this regard in CITES CoP-17 in Johannesburg which was agreed by member countries.

(d) Management interventions at tiger reserves are reviewed through a quadrennial Management Effectiveness Evaluation by an independent body of experts with technical backstopping provided by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1862 ON CONSERVATION OF TIGERS DUE FOR REPLY ON 21.12.2018

## 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                     |

## ANNEXURE-II

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1862 ON CONSERVATION OF TIGERS DUE FOR REPLY ON 21.12.2018

## 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.

***