PM reviews tiger conservation status
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.
