Cat Scan

The Ranthambore and Sariska tiger reserves see a precipitous fall in their rankings

- Rohit Parihar

Even as India celebrated the increase in its national tiger numbers, wildlife officials in Rajasthan were downbeat. The 2018 Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE), an audit of India’s tiger reserves by the Union ministry for environment, forests and climate change, downgraded two of Rajasthan’s reserves— Ranthambore and Sariska—from ‘good’ to ‘fair’. The report notes the slow growth of Sariska’s tiger population and raises fears that poor management and the absence of a long-term plan puts the reserve at risk of losing its big cats. Rajasthan has three tiger reserves—Ranthambore, Sariska and Mukundara Hills—which, together, are home to 69 tigers, up from 45 in 2014.