Lok Sabha Question No. 3931 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-28
Subject: Funds for Project Tiger
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Rajendra Agrawal, Su Thirunavukkarasar, P.P. Chaudhary, Srinivas Kesineni

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 3931

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 28.03.2022

## Funds for Project Tiger

## 3931.  SHRI RAJENDRA AGRAWAL:

SHRI THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU:

SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY:

SHRI KESINENI SRINIVAS:

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

- (a) the  number  of  tiger  reserves  in  the  country  and  the  total  area  conserved  under  these reserves, the State-wise details thereof;
- (b) whether  the  Government  in  the  light  of  increasing  man-animal  conflict  and  rising  tiger population is taking measures to create new tiger reserves in the country, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the number of tigers killed or died in the year 2021, State-wise details thereof, along with the cause of death;
- (d) the details of budgetary allocation to 'Project Tiger' over the last three years; and
- (e) the number of man-tiger conflicts in the last three years in the country and the details of measures  being  considered  to  prevent  the  increasing  menace  of  man-tiger  conflict  and protect the tigers from unnatural deaths?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) A list of tiger reserves, alongwith their area, is at Annexure-I.
- (b) Approval of National Tiger Conservation Authority has been accorded to Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary, MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary and Guru Ghasidas  National  Park  &  Tamor  Pingla  Wildlife  Sanctuary  for  declaration  as  Tiger Reserve.  In-principle approval has been given by the National Tiger Conservation Authority to Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary and Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary for declaration as Tiger Reserve.
- (c) The  average  life  span  of  the  tigers  in  the  wild  is  generally  10-12  years  and  in  natural ecosystem factors like old age, diseases, internecine fights, electrocution, snaring, drowning, road,  rail  hits  etc.  and  a  very  high  infant  mortality  observed  in  big  cats,  including  tigers, accounts for majority of tiger deaths. As reported by States, the details of tiger mortality in the year 2021 are at Annexure-II.
- (d) Details of budget allocation under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger for the last three years and current year are as below:
- (e) As reported by States, details of human deaths (State-wise) due to tiger attack during last three years are at Annexure-III.

| Year    | Budget allocated   |
|---------|--------------------|
|         | (Rs In Crore)      |
| 2018-19 | 350.00             |
| 2019-20 | 282.57             |
| 2020-21 | 195.00             |
| 2021-22 | 220.00             |

To  reduce  the  incidents  of  human-wildlife  conflict,  guidelines  and  Standard Operating  Procedure  have  been  issued  by  the  Central  Government  through  the  National Tiger Conservation Authority. Under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger  funding  assistance  is  provided  which inter  alia including  ex-gratia  and  capacity building of staff for mitigating human-wildlife conflicts.

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

- (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  suboptimal 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  human-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.

Also  as  per  Tiger  Conservation  Plans  need  based  and  site-specific  management interventions  are  done  for  improving  quality  of  wildlife  habitat  for  which  funding  is provided under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger.

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## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  3931  ON  FUNDS  FOR  PROJECT  TIGER  DUE  FOR REPLY ON 28/03/2022

## List of Tiger Reserves alongwith their area

|   S. No. | State             | Name of Tiger Reserve      |   Total area (In Sq.Kms) |
|----------|-------------------|----------------------------|--------------------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh    | Nagarjunsagar Srisailam    |                  3296.31 |
|        2 | Arunachal Pradesh | Namdapha                   |                  2052.82 |
|        3 | Arunachal Pradesh | Pakke                      |                  1198.45 |
|        4 | Arunachal Pradesh | Kamlang                    |                   783    |
|        5 | Assam             | Manas                      |                  2837.1  |
|        6 | Assam             | Nameri                     |                   464    |
|        7 | Assam             | Kaziranga                  |                  1173.58 |
|        8 | Assam             | Orang                      |                   492.46 |
|        9 | Bihar             | Valmiki                    |                   899.38 |
|       10 | Chhattisgarh      | Udanti-Sitanadi            |                  1842.54 |
|       11 | Chhattisgarh      | Achanakmar                 |                   914.02 |
|       12 | Chhattisgarh      | Indravati                  |                  2799.07 |
|       13 | Jharkhand         | Palamau                    |                  1129.93 |
|       14 | Karnataka         | Bandipur                   |                  1456.3  |
|       15 | Karnataka         | Bhadra                     |                  1064.29 |
|       16 | Karnataka         | Kali (Dandeli-Anshi)       |                  1097.51 |
|       17 | Karnataka         | Nagarahole                 |                  1205.76 |
|       18 | Karnataka         | Biligiri Ranganatha Temple |                   574.82 |
|       19 | Kerala            | Periyar                    |                   925    |
|       20 | Kerala            | Parambikulam               |                   643.66 |
|       21 | Madhya Pradesh    | Kanha                      |                  2051.79 |
|       22 | Madhya Pradesh    | Pench                      |                  1179.63 |
|       23 | Madhya Pradesh    | Bandhavgarh                |                  1536.94 |
|       24 | Madhya Pradesh    | Panna                      |                  1598.1  |
|       25 | Madhya Pradesh    | Satpura                    |                  2133.31 |
|       26 | Madhya Pradesh    | Sanjay-Dubri               |                  1674.5  |
|       27 | Maharashtra       | Melghat                    |                  2768.52 |
|       28 | Maharashtra       | Tadoba-Andhari             |                  1727.59 |
|       29 | Maharashtra       | Pench                      |                   741.22 |
|       30 | Maharashtra       | Sahyadri                   |                  1165.57 |
|       31 | Maharashtra       | Nawegaon-Nagzira           |                  1894.94 |
|       32 | Maharashtra       | Bor                        |                   816.27 |
|       33 | Mizoram           | Dampa                      |                   988    |
|       34 | Odisha            | Similipal                  |                  2750    |
|       35 | Odisha            | Satkosia                   |                   963.87 |
|       36 | Rajasthan         | Ranthambore                |                  1411.29 |
|       37 | Rajasthan         | Sariska                    |                  1213.34 |
|       38 | Rajasthan         | Mukandra Hills             |                   759.99 |
|       39 | Tamil Nadu        | Kalakad-Mundanthurai       |                  1601.54 |
|       40 | Tamil Nadu        | Mudumalai                  |                   688.59 |
|       41 | Tamil Nadu        | Sathyamangalam             |                  1408.4  |
|       42 | Tamil Nadu        | Anamalai                   |                  1479.87 |
|       43 | Tamil Nadu        | Srivilliputhur Megamalai   |                  1016.56 |

| 44   | Telangana     | Kawal                           |   2015.44 |
|------|---------------|---------------------------------|-----------|
| 45   | Telangana     | Amrabad                         |   2611.39 |
| 46   | Uttar Pradesh | Dudhwa                          |   2201.77 |
| 47   | Uttar Pradesh | Pilibhit                        |    730.25 |
| 48   | Uttarakhand   | Corbett                         |   1288.31 |
| 48   | Uttar Pradesh | Amangarh (buffer of Corbett TR) |     80.6  |
| 49   | Uttarakhand   | Rajaji                          |   1075.17 |
| 50   | West Bengal   | Sunderbans                      |   2584.89 |
| 51   | West Bengal   | Buxa                            |    757.9  |
|      | Total         |                                 |  73765.6  |

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Annexure-II

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (c)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  3931  ON  FUNDS  FOR  PROJECT  TIGER  DUE  FOR REPLY ON 28/03/2022

## As reported by States, details of tiger mortality during the year 2021

| State             |   Year 2021 |
|-------------------|-------------|
| Andhra Pradesh    |           1 |
| Arunachal Pradesh |           0 |
| Assam             |           6 |
| Bihar             |           4 |
| Chhattisgarh      |           4 |
| Delhi             |           0 |
| Goa               |           0 |
| Gujarat           |           0 |
| Jharkhand         |           0 |
| Karnataka         |          15 |
| Kerala            |           6 |
| Madhya Pradesh    |          42 |
| Maharashtra       |          27 |
| Nagaland          |           0 |
| Odisha            |           0 |
| Rajasthan         |           1 |
| Tamil Nadu        |           4 |
| Telangana         |           4 |
| Uttar Pradesh     |           9 |
| Uttarakhand       |           3 |
| West Bengal       |           1 |
| Total             |         127 |

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Annexure-III

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (e)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  3931  ON  FUNDS  FOR  PROJECT  TIGER  DUE  FOR REPLY ON 28/03/2022

Details of Human deaths by tiger attack as reported by States (State-wise)

| S.No.     | State             |   2018 |   2019 |   2020 |   2021 (upto June 2021) |   Total |
|-----------|-------------------|--------|--------|--------|-------------------------|---------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh    |      0 |      0 |      0 |                       0 |       0 |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh |      0 |      0 |      0 |                       0 |       0 |
| 3         | Assam             |      1 |      0 |      0 |                       0 |       2 |
| 4         | Bihar             |      0 |      0 |      1 |                       3 |       1 |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh      |      0 |      0 |      0 |                       0 |       0 |
| 6         | Jharkhand         |      0 |      0 |      0 |                       0 |       0 |
| 7         | Karnataka         |      1 |      4 |      0 |                       0 |       5 |
| 8         | Kerala            |      0 |      0 |      1 |                       0 |       1 |
| 9         | Madhya Pradesh    |      2 |      1 |      6 |                       0 |      14 |
| 10        | Maharashtra       |      2 |     26 |     25 |                       5 |      60 |
| 11        | Mizoram           |      0 |      0 |      0 |                       0 |       0 |
| 12        | Orissa            |      2 |      0 |      0 |                       0 |       2 |
| 13        | Rajasthan         |      2 |      5 |      0 |                       0 |       7 |
| 14        | Tamil Nadu        |      0 |      0 |      1 |                       0 |       1 |
| 15        | Telangana         |      0 |      0 |      2 |                       0 |       2 |
| 16        | Uttar Pradesh     |      5 |      8 |      4 |                       5 |      36 |
| 17        | Uttarakhand       |      1 |      3 |      0 |                       1 |       4 |
| 18        | West Bengal       |     15 |      3 |      4 |                       0 |      34 |
| Year wise | total             |     31 |     50 |     44 |                      14 |     169 |

*****