Madhya Pradesh has bagged the highest number of awards for tiger conservation. In the two-day meeting of the Field Directors of the Tiger Reserves (TR) that began on Wednesday various conservation issues including protection, extremist threat, phase-4 monitoring and compliance of effective management were discussed at length. A book on ‘Fundamentals in Wildlife Management’ written by Dr Rajesh Gopal, Member Secretary National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was released by Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan on the occasion. Addressing the officials she called for expediting the deployment of Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) in the respective reserves. Talking to The Pioneer Joint Director National Tiger Conservation Authority informed that three tiger reserves from MP including Panna, Kanha and Satpura have been awarded under thematic areas of active monitoring, habitat management and village relocation respectively. Kaziranga in Assam, Dudhwa in Uttar Pradesh and Pakke in Arunachal Pradesh walked away with the awards for effective anti-poaching mechanisms. Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand was recognised for use of modern technology for monitoring. Sunderban in West-Bengal on the other hand received a pat on the back for effective management of man-tiger conflict. Henceforth the specific problems of certain reserves came up for discussion. While the issue of breeding failure of translocated tigers in Sariska, TR in Rajasthan surfaced prominently in the discussion, the looming Naxal threat in Palamau in Jharkhand was also deliberated upon. The discussions are to continue further. Later addressing the officials Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said that field protection continues to remain very high on tiger agenda by deployment of local workforce for raising the Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF). Pointing out that most States are lagging behind in this exercise, she further added that 100% Central assistance was also being provided to certain States as Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Odisha for the deployment of STPF, but the results are yet to show. She, however, applauded the efforts of Karnataka that has emerged the first State in the country to deploy Special Tiger Protection Force. Focusing on the restoration of the forest corridors and fringe areas of the tiger reserves the Minister reminded that the Centrally-Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger was stepped up in the last financial year. The State, Centre and civil societies have to work hand in hand for the effective utilisation of conservation funds.