30.7.19

Tiger population doubles since 2006 to nearly 3,000

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018, saying the country has emerged as of one of the biggest, safest tiger habitats in the world, with the big cat’s population growing from 1,411 in 2006 to 2,967 in 2019.

Modi lauded all stakeholders involved in the country’s tiger conservation exercise and said, “Nine long years ago, it was decided in St Petersburg (Russia) that the target of doubling the tiger population would be 2022. We in India completed this target four years in advance. This is the finest example of sankalp se siddhi (attainment through resolve).”

Invoking two Bollywood movie titles, he said the story of protecting tigers that started with Ek Tha Tiger (there was once a tiger) and reached Tiger Zinda Hai (the tiger is alive) should not end there, and efforts towards conservation should be expanded and sped up.

The PM said the development versus environment conservation debate will continue with both sides suggesting they are mutually exclusive, but it was possible to strike a healthy balance. He said that while in the last five years, the focus was on to build next generation infrastructure in the country, there has also been an increase in forest cover and protected areas. “In 2014, the number of protected areas was 692; this rose to more than 860 in 2019. Similarly, the number of community reserves were 43 in 2014 and rose to more than 100 in 2019,” he said.

In the study, the state of Madhya Pradesh led the table with 526 tigers and Karnataka followed with 524 of the majestic predators, even as Uttarakhand came in third with 442 tigers, registering an excellent tiger population growth in the past 13 years over a relatively smaller area. 

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