Lok Sabha Question No. 201 (STARRED), answered on 2023-12-18
Subject: Tiger Attacks
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Amar Singh

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *201

TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2023

## Tiger Attacks

## *201.  DR. AMAR SINGH:

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

- (a) the details of man-eater tiger attacks during the last five years;
- (b) the  details  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  the  safety  of  tourists,  staff  and workers;
- (c) the amount of compensation given to the families of victims died due to such attacks; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to encourage tourism and footfall of visitors despite this threat?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BHUPENDER YADAV)

(a), (b), (c) & (d) :A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

***

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a), (b), (c) & (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *201 ON TIGER ATTACKS DUE FOR REPLY ON 18.12.2023

- (a) As reported by States, the details of human deaths due to tiger attacks during last five years is as under:-
- (b) The  Government  of  India, through the National Tiger Conservation Authority, has advocated  a  three  pronged  strategy  to  manage  human-wildlife  negative  interactions  as follows:-
- (i) Material and logistical support: Funding support through the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project  Tiger & Elephant,  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  exgratia  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

| S. No.   | State             |   2018 |   2019 |   2020 |   2021 |   2022 |
|----------|-------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 3        | Assam             |      1 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 4        | Bihar             |      0 |      0 |      1 |      4 |      9 |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh      |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 6        | Jharkhand         |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 7        | Karnataka         |      1 |      4 |      0 |      1 |      1 |
| 8        | Kerala            |      0 |      0 |      2 |      0 |      0 |
| 9        | Madhya Pradesh    |      2 |      1 |     11 |      2 |      2 |
| 10       | Maharashtra       |      2 |     26 |     25 |     32 |     85 |
| 11       | Mizoram           |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 12       | Orissa            |      2 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 13       | Rajasthan         |      2 |      5 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| 14       | Tamil Nadu        |      0 |      0 |      1 |      3 |      0 |
| 15       | Telangana         |      0 |      0 |      2 |      0 |      0 |
| 16       | Uttar Pradesh     |      5 |      8 |      4 |     11 |     11 |
| 17       | Uttarakhand       |      1 |      2 |      0 |      1 |      3 |
| 18       | West Bengal       |     15 |      3 |      5 |      5 |      1 |
| TOTAL    | TOTAL             |     31 |     49 |     51 |     59 |    112 |

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.

- (c) As reported by States, the details of compensation paid during last five years, is as under:-

(Rs. in lakhs)

| S. No.   | State             |   2018 |   2019 |   2020 |   2021 |   2022 |
|----------|-------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    |   0    |      0 |      0 |    0   |    0   |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh |   0    |      0 |      0 |    0   |    0   |
| 3        | Assam             |   0    |      0 |      0 |    0   |    0   |
| 4        | Bihar             |   0    |      0 |      5 |    5   |   30   |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh      |   0    |      0 |      0 |    0   |    0   |
| 6        | Jharkhand         |   0    |      0 |      0 |    0   |    0   |
| 7        | Karnataka         |  15    |     20 |      0 |    7.5 |    7.5 |
| 8        | Kerala            |   0    |      0 |     10 |    0   |    0   |
| 9        | Madhya Pradesh    |  12.08 |      4 |     40 |    0   |    4   |
| 10       | Maharashtra       |   0    |    360 |    402 |  420   | 1395   |
| 11       | Mizoram           |   0    |      0 |      0 |    0   |    0   |
| 12       | Orissa            |   0.8  |      0 |      0 |    0   |    0   |
| 13       | Rajasthan         |   8    |     20 |      0 |    0   |    0   |
| 14       | Tamil Nadu        |   0    |      0 |      4 |   12   |    0   |
| 15       | Telangana         |   0    |      0 |     10 |    0   |    0   |
| 16       | Uttar Pradesh     |  14    |     10 |     20 |   43   |   34   |
| 17       | Uttarakhand       |   3    |      7 |      0 |    4   |    4   |
| 18       | West Bengal       |   2.5  |      0 |      4 |   16   |    4   |
|          | Total             |  55.38 |    421 |    495 |  507.5 | 1478.5 |

- (d) The Government of India through the National Tiger Conservation Authority (Normative Standards for Tourism activities and Project Tiger) Guidelines, 2012 issued under section 38 O (1) (c) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 promotes sustainable ecotourism in and around  tiger  reserves.  These  guidelines inter  alia have  prescribed  measures  to  ensure safety of tourists as well as wildlife.

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