INDIA IS celebrating a milestone in its conservation journey with the completion of 50 years of Project Tiger-a flagship conservation programme for the country's flagship species. To mark the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bandipur tiger reserve in Karnataka on April 9 and released the latest tiger census data that highlights a successful conservation story: India now has 3,167 tigers and 53 tiger reserves, spread over 75,796 sq km or 2.3 per cent of the country's geographic area.
Only 1,827 tigers were left in the wild when Project Tiger was introduced on April 1, 1973, by then prime minister Indira Gandhi. The project thus began by notifying eight national parks and wildlife sanctuaries as tiger reserves. Tiger numbers reached 3,700 in 2002, but then hit an alltime low of 1,411 in 2006, with Sariska tiger reserve in Rajasthan reporting a wipeout of the animal. That year, the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (WLPA), was amended to offer legal protection to tiger reserves and to allow the establishment of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body to oversee tiger conservation efforts. The number of tigers and tiger reserves have steadily increased since then. But this success has come at the cost of communities who have traditionally lived in and around these tiger reserves.
This story is from the May 01, 2023 edition of Down To Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 01, 2023 edition of Down To Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
THE ALCHEMY OF EMOTIONS - SL'OTH
As with all personality traits, laziness is a combination of genes and environment
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - WRATH
Anger is an emotional programme, a part of natural selection that helps us bargain for better treatment
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - GLUTTONY
We have been captured by food and it is driving us to do something that is arguably not good for us
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - ENVY
Envy gives people a fundamental desire for a higher social rank
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS-L'UST
Love, lust, attachments are basic brain circuits. They are too primitive a system and will never change
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS - GREED
Evolutionary biology sees greed as a way to increase your chances of survival
THE AL'CHEMY OF EMOTIONS
I felt for the tormented whirlwinds Damned for their carnal sins Committed when they let their passions rule their reason
INVISIBLE THREAT
Significant presence of microplastics in Puducherry’s agricultural soil raises concerns for soil and crop health
Feeding off each other
VEGETARIAN MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH ASIA AND THE WEST GREW WITH MUTUAL SUPPORT AND VALIDATION
India's unhealthy patent amendments
Despite strong pleas, the Modi regime has changed the rules to impose a cost on those who challenge faulty patents