Tiger numbers up but dip in Western Ghats

NEW DELHI: The tiger population has gone up in the Shivalik Hills-Gangetic Plains landscape, central India and the Sundarbans but their numbers have dwindled in the Western Ghats and the North- east-Brahmaputra Plains due to habitat loss, fragmentation and poaching over the years, said a government report released on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the latest tiger numbers at a mega event organised in Mysuru to mark the completion of 50 years of Project Tiger. According to the data, the tiger population in the country increased from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,167 in 2022. The report said aligning the aspirations of large-scale economic development while safe guarding forests and wildlife and mitigating human-tiger conflict is one of the major challenges.

Protecting nature part of Indian culture, says Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said India did not believe in conflict between ecology and economy but gave importance to coexistence between the two.

Protection of wildlife was a universal issue, Modi said, launching the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) that endeavours to protect and conserve big cats.

The Prime Minister was speaking after inaugurating the programme ‘Commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger’ organised at Karnataka State Open University.

Citing data that showed the tiger population in India stood at 3,167 in 2022, Modi said: “The tiger numbers that we have reached shows that this family of ours is growing. This is a moment of pride. I’m confident and I assure the world that in the days to come we will achieve more.”

According to the data, the tiger population was 1,411 in 2006, 1,706 in 2010, 2,226 in 2014, 2,967 in 2018 and 3,167 in 2022.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav and Minister of State Ashwini Kumar Choubey among others were present at the event.

Stating that India has not only saved tigers, but created an ecosystem for it to flourish, he said, “India is a country where protecting nature is part of culture.”

“For wildlife to thrive, it is important for ecosystems to thrive,” he said, adding that protecting wildlife was not the issue of just one country, but actually a global one.

Pointing out that cheetahs had become extinct in India decades ago, the Prime Minister referred to the recent initiative where the big cats were brought to India from Namibia and South Africa, and said it was the first successful transcontinental translocation of the big cat.

The Oscar-winning documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ also depicts the traditional bond between nature and creatures, he said.

Modi, earlier in the day, went on a safari at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka amidst the picturesque surroundings of the towering Western Ghats, as part of programmes to mark 50 years of ‘Project Tiger’.

Dressed in a speckled safari clothing and hat, he reportedly covered about 20 kilometres in an open jeep inside the tiger reserve, located partly in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district, and partly in H D Kote and Nanjangud taluks of Mysuru district.