N.K. Chauhan 
What is Project Tiger ?
Project Tiger is a tiger conservation program launched in April 1973 by the Government of India to stem the dwindling population of the big cats and work to increase their numbers.Project Tiger was started with 9 tiger reserves, currently, the project coverage has increased to 53, spread out in 18 tiger range states.
| In Uttar Pradesh | |
|---|---|
| Dudhwa (1987–88) | Uttar Pradesh |
| Amangarh (2012) | Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh |
| Pilibhit (2014) | Uttar Pradesh |
The tiger reserves are constituted on a core/buffer strategy.
The core areas have the legal status of a national park or a sanctuary, whereas the buffer or peripheral areas are a mix of forest and non-forest land, managed as a multiple-use area.
It is an ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change providing central assistance to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves.
The government has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and funded the relocation of villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.
Tiger is categorised as Schedule I under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Endangered under IUCN and Appendix I under CITES.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was launched in 2005, following the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force.It was given statutory status by 2006 amendment of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
It is a statutory body of the MOEFCC, with an overarching supervisory/coordination role, performing functions as provided in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Tiger census 2018-19
Tiger census is a four-yearly exercise carried out by Wildlife Institute of India (WII - funded by MoEF) and NTCA.The first census was conducted in 2006, followed by 2010 and in 2014.
The Census (2014) had reported 2,226 tigers in the country, up from 1,706 in 2010.
2006 census concluded that Indian tiger numbers had hit an all-time low of 1,411 in 2006 and all the tigers from the Sariska reserve in Rajasthan had disappeared.
The fourth tiger census 2018-19 reported that the total count of tigers has risen to 2,967 from 2,226 in 2014 with more than half of them in Madhya Pradesh (526) and Karnataka (524).
India has achieved the target of doubling the tiger count four years ahead of the deadline of 2022.
Double sampling method was introduced in 2006 census, it is based on ground-based surveys and actual images captured on camera-traps.
M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers - Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) is an app based monitoring system, launched across Indian tiger reserves by the NTCA in 2010.
For the 2018 census, ground staff involved in the count used the MSTrIPES app.
India's five tiger landscapes are Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains, Central Indian Landscape and Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, North-East Hills and Brahmaputra Plains, and the Sundarbans.
According to tiger census, 2018-19 - Madhya Pradesh (526) has the highest tiger population, followed by Karnataka (524) and Uttarakhand (442). Among the NE states, Assam (190) has the highest tiger population.
India is home to almost 70 % of the world tiger population.
Around 40% of India's estimated 2,226 tigers (2014 census) live outside the core areas of tiger habitats.
The biggest increase has been in Madhya Pradesh - a massive 218 individuals (71%).
Chhattisgarh and Mizoram saw a decline in the tiger population.
In Buxa, Dampa, and Palamau, which are tiger reserves, no trace of the animal was found.
International Tiger Day
International Tiger Day, is an annual celebration to raise awareness for tiger conservation, held annually on 29 July.It was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia.
At the Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010, leaders of 13 tiger range countries resolved to do more for the tiger and embarked on efforts to double its number in the wild, with a popular slogan T X 2.
The theme for the 2021 International Tiger Day is: Their survival is in our hands.
Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS)
14 Tiger Reserves in India received the accreditation of the Global Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS).Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS) has been agreed upon as accreditation tool by the global coalition of Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) and has been developed by tiger and protected area experts.
Officially launched in 2013, CA|TS is a set of criteria which allows tiger sites to check if their management will lead to successful tiger conservation.
| Popular Tiger Reserves | |
|---|---|
| Name | State |
| Bandipur | Karnataka |
| Manas | Assam |
| Namdapha | Arunachal Pradesh |
| Similipal | Odisha |
| Dudhwa | Uttar Pradesh |
| Kanha | Madhya Pradesh |
| Sunderban | West Bengal |
| Dampha | Mizoram |
| Buxa | West Bengal |
| Nameri | Assam |
| Pench | Madhya Pradesh |
| Sariska | Rajasthan |
