<p>Judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of T N Godavarman Thirumulpad/ Gaurav Kumar Bansal Vs Union of India & Others dated 06/03/2024.</p> <div> "In the present case, it is clear beyond
Sunny Sebastian New arrival: In a bid to revive the tiger population at the Sariska reserve, Rajasthan, a three-year-old male cub was airlifted on Saturday from the State's Ranthambore national park. The move reintroduces the big cat in the reserve, which lost all its tigers to poaching in 2004-05. SARISKA (RAJASTHAN): The tiger has landed and it is a male!
Sunny Sebastian Plan to re-introduce wild tigers in the sanctury JAIPUR: The country is on the threshold of making history by re-introducing wild tigers in one of its sanctuaries. If everything goes according to plan and the weather gods are merciful, a tiger
YOJNA GUSAI Sariska is soon going to get back its glory, which in monetary terms has cost the country's exchequer more than Rs 1.5 crore. After losing all the tigers to poachers in 2004, this tiger reserve in Rajasthan will have tigers from the Ranthambore tiger reserve by the end of June. This is for the first time in the world that tiger species is being relocated, therefore tiger conservationists from all over the globe are praying for its success.
Dawn at Kanha National Park in India's central highlands is welcomed with a symphony of animal sounds. The safari guides in their jeeps listen intently, straining to pick out telltale dissonant notes
Sariska, which a few years ago was discovered to be the grave of the endangered tiger rather than its sanctuary, is now ready to adopt the big cat again, possibly within a month. The tiger would come from Ranthambhore reserve currently experiencing a boom in the population of the animal, chief wildlife warden of Rajasthan R N Mehrotra told UNI. "Initially we would put just one animal, and its companion would be introduced a few months later, and this was being done to see how the newcomer was finding its new habitat,' he said.
The new budgetary provisions for conservation of tigers have not come a day soon.
Keeping the faith: Rajesh Gopal, Inspector General of Forest and Member Secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, at his office in New Delhi. The leader of tiger saving project, Rajesh Gopal , is hopeful about protecting the national animal. He talks with Bindu Shajan Perappadan about the latest advancements in conservation programmes. Often referred to as the commander-in-chief of the army engaged in saving India's national animal, the tiger, Inspector General of Forests and Member Secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority Rajesh Gopal by his own admission "is concerned but has hope for the Indian tiger since it has responded to managerial intervention under Project Tiger.' "See no one can be happy with the situation that we are in right now. I am concerned but don't feel helpless. Our major tiger landscapes hold promise as seen in the current assessment. For the first time in several years we now have a fairly accurate count of the tiger population in the country and its habitat status. This is a good benchmark to start with at the landscape level,' said Gopal. While the Bengal tiger is endangered as it is being poached for its body parts to cater to a growing illegal world market, the population is even more precious because the Caspian, Java and Bali tiger population is already extinct; the South China tiger is nearly extinct in the wild. Spearheading a multi-crore ambitious project aimed at bringing to a halt the flight to extinction of the Indian tiger, Gopal is happy about the new method adopted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to count the tiger population in the country. "Earlier the methodology used was that of taking the total count, where we counted individual pug marks and arrived at an estimation of the tiger population in the country, the method had some obvious inherent problems. We are happy with the new method we have adopted which looks at the population of tigers in a more holistic way, and cannot be compared with the earlier one,' said Gopal. Questioned about the reduction in the tiger population despite efforts to conserve the population Gopal said: "If you look at the arithmetic of it we don't seem to be on top of the situation. However, a more scientific approach will allow us to realise that the figure of over a thousand tigers that we are talking about now is more close to the real picture, given the limiting factors prevailing in the tiger habitats. Another point to take into consideration is the fact that with the available potential area to protect the wild tiger population in India, we don't have the inviolate space to accommodate more than an additional 500 tigers, without fostering man-wildlife conflicts.' Listing protection of the big cat and the fragmentation of the tiger habitat as two of the biggest challenges faced by the Project Tiger, Gopal also spoke about the several new initiatives to boost the tiger population in the country. ''The report of the Tiger Task Force has been one of the most realistic and workable document that we have come up with. Several schemes have been put in place to ensure the acceleration of measures to identify and correct the problems with the current system,' says Gopal. ''The Prime Minister has reviewed the status several times and has also written to various Chief Ministers to take urgent action and work with the Central Government in protecting the tiger. We have also understood the acute need of younger and more motivated staff to stand up against the strong poaching network in the country. Taking a more holistic approach to counter man-animal conflict, the relocation package has been enhanced to Rs.10 lakh per family and Tiger Protection Force has been deployed in 17 important areas,' said Gopal. He adds: "As many as eight new reserves have been included in Project Tiger, and the plan allocation has been stepped up to Rs. 600 crores, apart from the Rs. 50 crores for creating an anti-poaching force. India has also initiated dialogue with neighbouring countries including China, Bangladesh and Bhutan to speak about common issues of concern in respect of curbing killing and smuggling of tigers.' Project Tiger is also now starting to look at the individual problems faced by various tiger reserves in the country. ''Instead of clubbing and generalising the problems across various parks in the country we are beginning to speak with individual heads of parks to understand their unique problem. Working with individual States and understanding their array of issues and seeking to solve them case by case, we expect will help us work towards protecting the tiger.'. For the future, Project Tiger has plans to employ technology to protect its wild tiger population. ''We are bringing advanced communication technology, digital database, networking systems and tiger population evaluation system to ensure maximum benefits of the various programmes underway to project the tiger,' said Gopal.
The Centre-sponsored Project Tiger Scheme has sent out a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to states as part of a new Five Year Plan that has allocated Rs 600 crore for the cause of the tiger. In keeping with the new-found urgency to preserve the dwindling numbers of tigers, the MoU has asked for all progress to be monitored through photo catalogues and videographing. There are 28 tiger reserves in 17 states. "So far, the states have not had any scope for reciprocal commitment in terms of tiger conservation. We have found that conservation of the tiger is a shared responsibility which the states have to commit to through the MoU. After the MoU has been signed, the Centre will release fund for Project Tiger in the new fiscal year in March,' said Rajesh Gopal, member secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority. In a meeting last week, the Prime Minister had reviewed the new tiger census, and had asked chief ministers to take "personal responsibility' for the tigers in their states. The tiger count is at an all time low with only 1,411 in the wild. "The scheme will be strictly monitored. All activities will have to be catalogued through photos. For some activities, we will ask for videographing for our permanent records. For activities like relocation of tribals from critical tiger habitats, we will have photo cataloguing at every stage,' Gopal stressed. More than 70 per cent of the budgetary allocations have been done for facilitating rehabilitation of tribals and people living in the critical or core tiger habitats. Out of Rs 600 crore, Rs 345 crore has been allocated for deciding inviolate spaces for wildlife and relocation of villagers from reserves within a timeframe, which includes a revised pay package of Rs 10 lakh per family for relocation. While states have to delineate buffer zones, extending up to 10 km from tiger reserves, families living in buffer zones will be involved in eco-tourism. This means that the tiger's critical habitat within the reserves will not be disturbed by the Forest Rights Act. The security net
Concerned over declining number of tigers, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today promised further enhancement of financial and organisational support to save the big cats in the country. At a meeting called to review tiger conservation status and functioning of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, he expressed concern over declining tiger population but added that recent estimates of tiger population could not be compared with earlier estimates. The Prime Minister said the government was fully committed to tiger conservation and that the Centre would further enhance financial and organisational support for efforts in this direction. Besides, he would also call a conference of chief ministers of states with tiger reserves to put in place a coordinated response to the challenge of tiger conservation. Based on a new methodology, the Centre recently released a report on the status of tigers titled "Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in India'. The report pegged the tiger numbers at an all-time low of 1411, confirming the worst fears of tiger conservationists about the state of big cats in India. The report was prepared by Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India and the National Tiger Conservation Authority after two years of extensive data collection. However, some stakeholder states like Orissa rejected the new count, saying that the camera-trap methodology adopted to count the numbers was faulty. Ever since the release of the report, tiger conservationists demand that Centre should take emergency steps to save the national animal and that the Prime Minister should call a meeting of chief ministers of states with tiger reserves. Assuring that the government was fully committed to tiger conservation and the Central government would further enhance financial and organisational support for efforts in this direction, the Prime Minister today said the Centre would fund modernisation of tiger reserves management, including recruitment of staff from local population and providing them adequate equipment. He also sought a state-specific strategy for such central assistance. The government had recently approved an enhanced relocation package of up to Rs 10 lakh per family for families living in tiger reserves. Schemes for rehabilitation of traditional hunters, for supporting new tiger reserves; for supporting eco-tourism benefiting local communities; for deployment of anti-poaching staff and, for improving service conditions of forest officers had also been taken up. The Prime Minister stressed the importance of concerned state governments paying focused attention. He said the chief ministers had been asked to take personal charge of tiger conservation and forest management.
In an effort to ensure improved tiger conservation, the Centre is planning to make states where sanctuaries and parks are located active partners in protecting the big cat by framing memorandums of understanding (MoUs) that will tie-in increased assistance to better management of the reserves. A review of tiger conservation chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday considered options to stem the decline in tiger population in the wake of the latest census released last week. It was felt that the cooperation of the states was essential for any conservation effort to succeed. The 30-odd tigers reserves are managed by forest services of 17 states. While a press release said that the PM expressed concern at the decline in tiger numbers, it also pointed out that Singh felt comparisons with older census figures would be out of place given that a revised methodology was used in the most recent count. It was also felt that tiger numbers had declined most in areas adjoining reserves which were not specifically protected. In order to get the states on board, it was decided that MoUs detailing their responsibilities as well as a scheme of incentives would be drawn up soon. These would be then signed with states with increased funds being linked to specific measures like requisite staff, communication and monitoring equipment and patrol vehicles. This would bring about a sharing of best practices in tiger conservation. A meeting of CMs of states where tiger reserves are located will be called and the CMs will be requested to take charge of conservation and forest management. The meeting will seek to frame a coordinated response to the challenge of tiger conservation. While the core areas of tiger reserves are to be kept inviolate
