Lok Sabha Question No. 5271 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-04
Subject: Tiger Attacks
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Ashok Mahadeorao Nete

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 5271

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 04.04.2022

## Tiger Attacks

## 5271.  SHRI ASHOK MAHADEORAO NETE:

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

- (a) whether a number of villagers have been killed in tiger attacks in the country, especially in the Gadchiroli Parliamentary Constituency of Maharashtra State;
- (b) if so, the State-wise details thereof particularly of Gadchiroli Parliamentary Constituency during the last three years; and
- (c) whether the Government has taken or proposes to take any steps to protect the villagers from tiger attack and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) & (b) Yes  sir,  people  have  been  killed  due  to  the  human-tiger  conflict  events  in  the country. As per the details furnished by the State of Maharashtra there have been two human deaths in the last three years due to tiger attack in Gadchiroli Parliamentary Constituency.  The  details  of  human  deaths  due  to  tiger  attacks  as  reported  by  the States are given at Annexure-I.
- (c) 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  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  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.

*****

Annexure-I

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  5271  ON  TIGER  ATTACKS  DUE  FOR  REPLY  ON 04.04.2022

## State wise details of human deaths due to tiger attacks for the period 2019-2021

|                 |                   |   Year |   Year | Year                   | Year   |
|-----------------|-------------------|--------|--------|------------------------|--------|
| Sl. No.         | State             |   2019 |   2020 | 2021 (upto June, 2021) | Total  |
| 1               | Andhra Pradesh    |      0 |      0 | 0                      | 0      |
| 2               | Arunachal Pradesh |      0 |      0 | 0                      | 0      |
| 3               | Assam             |      0 |      0 | 0                      | 0      |
| 4               | Bihar             |      0 |      1 | 3                      | 4      |
| 5               | Chhattisgarh      |      0 |      0 | 0                      | 0      |
| 6               | Jharkhand         |      0 |      0 | 0                      | 0      |
| 7               | Karnataka         |      4 |      0 | 0                      | 4      |
| 8               | Kerala            |      0 |      1 | 0                      | 1      |
| 9               | Madhya Pradesh    |      1 |      6 | 0                      | 7      |
| 10              | Maharashtra       |     26 |     25 | 5                      | 56     |
| 11              | Mizoram           |      0 |      0 | 0                      | 0      |
| 12              | Orissa            |      0 |      0 | 0                      | 0      |
| 13              | Rajasthan         |      5 |      0 | 0                      | 5      |
| 14              | Tamil Nadu        |      0 |      1 | 0                      | 1      |
| 15              | Telangana         |      0 |      2 | 0                      | 2      |
| 16              | Uttar Pradesh     |      8 |      4 | 5                      | 17     |
| 17              | Uttarakhand       |      3 |      0 | 1                      | 4      |
| 18              | West Bengal       |      3 |      4 | 0                      | 7      |
| Year wise total |                   |     50 |     44 | 14                     | 108    |