Lok Sabha Question No. 2478 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-04
Subject: Tiger Deaths in Maharashtra
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Shri Anil Yeshwant Desai

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2478

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.08.2025

## Tiger Deaths in Maharashtra

## 2478.  SHRI ANIL YESHWANT DESAI:

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

- (a) the current number of tigers in Maharashtra as per the latest available data;
- (b) the number of tigers killed for poaching and died due to natural causes in Maharashtra during the last five years and the current year; and
- (c) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  curb  poaching  and  ensure  the  safety  and conservation of tigers in the State?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

- (a) As per the All India Tiger Estimation done in 2022, the current number of tigers in Maharashtra is   444.
- (b) As  reported  by  the  State,  the number of  tigers  killed  for  poaching  and  died  due  to natural  causes  in  Maharashtra  during  the last  five  years and  the  current  year  are  as under:
- (c) The steps taken by the Government of India through the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for the conservation and protection of tigers is as under:-

|   S. No. |   Year |   Natural |   Poaching |   Total |
|----------|--------|-----------|------------|---------|
|        1 |   2020 |         3 |          4 |       7 |
|        2 |   2021 |         6 |          6 |      12 |
|        3 |   2022 |         1 |          2 |       3 |
|        4 |   2023 |         6 |          4 |      10 |
|        5 |   2024 |         4 |          0 |       4 |
|        6 |   2025 |         0 |          0 |       0 |

## 1. Generic measures

-  Providing  assistance  to  States  under  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of 'Project  Tiger'  for  protection,  infrastructure  and  antipoaching  operations (including deployment of Tiger Protection Force and Special Tiger Protection Force)  which  is now  ongoing  as  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Project Tiger & Elephant
-  Disseminating of real time information of backward / forward linkages relating to poachers / wildlife criminals.
-  Performing  supervisory  field  visits  through  the  National  Tiger  Conservation Authority and its regional offices
-  Launching tiger reserve level monitoring using camera trap to keep a photo ID database of individual tiger.
-  Preparing  a  national  database  of  individual  tiger  photo  to  establish  linkage with body parts seized or dead tigers.
-  Assisting  States  to  deploy  local  workforce  in  a  big  way  for  protection  to complement the efforts of field staff.
-  Sharing of information on seizure of body parts including skin of tigers among tiger range countries to ascertain source area.

## 2. Security Plan

The  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  has  issued  generic  guidelines  for formulating a Security Plan for each tiger reserve which is operationalized in the overarching Tiger Conservation Plan which is legally mandated under section 38 V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

## 3. Security Audit

The  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  has  developed  a  framework  for carrying  out  the  assessment  of  the  security  threats  and  for  formulating  site specific security plan which has been completed in 25 different tiger reserves in Phase-I and action has been initiated for the remaining tiger reserves.

## 4. M-STrIPES  (Monitoring System for Tigers Intensive-Protection  & Ecological Status)

This  is  an  android  application  which  has  three  distinct  modules  namely  Patrol module, Ecological module and Conflict module. The Patrol module inter-alia is a  mechanism  to  ensure  accountability  of  front  line  staff  vis-à-vis  anti-poaching efforts  and  useful  for  the  tiger  reserve  management  to  strengthen  protection measures, based on data that is generated through M-STrIPES.

## 5. Amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972

The  Government  of  India  amended  the  Wildlife  (Protection)  Act,  1972  and enhanced 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.

Further,  funding  assistance  is  provided  under  the  Project  Tiger Component of the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development  of  Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH)  to  tiger  range States for conservation of tigers, raising awareness on tiger & other wildlife conservation, habitat management, protection, eco-development, human resource and infrastructure development, voluntary village relocation, as per sanctioned Annual Plan of Operation of the Tiger Reserve, which stems out from a statutory Tiger Conservation Plan.

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