A Question Of Figures

Getting closer to statistics that speak

- Dr. Dipankar Ghose

On first of August, 2017, two important questions were asked at the Loksabha or Parliament of India. Shri Karan Singh Tanwar requested the Hon’ble Minister of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, the total number of tiger deaths reported in the country during each of the last three years, State-wise; the reasons for continuous increase in the number of tiger deaths during the last several years; and the details of preventive steps taken/ being taken by the Government to stop rampant poaching of tigers in the country for their skin and bones? What provoked Shri Tanwar to raise this matter is not known, and his concern about the well being of India’s National Animal is appreciable. The Hon’ble Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan responded that 79, 81, 122 and 74 tiger deaths were reported in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 (only between January & July) respectively. He also stated that confirmed poaching cases of tigers in the year 2016 was 12, whereas cases of seizures of tiger parts in 2016 was 22 and all these were due to high detection rate as a result of better enforcement and effective coordination among different enforcement agencies of the Government of India and State Government agencies. (Government of India, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Lok Sabha, Unstarred Question No. 2556, to be answered on 01.08.2017) Most important statement by the Hon’ble Minister was that increase dispersal from source areas to surrounding landscapes due to increased number of tigers is also one of the reasons. It is great to know that the Government recognizes dispersal of tigers at a landscape level – there is a need to secure those movement corridors through which tigers disperse and tiger conservation needs to focus as much outside the Tiger Reserves.