Tiger population rises by 295 in India
The tiger population of India is now 1706 registering a rise by 295, according to the 2011 Census report released on Monday.
The Census exercise was carried out in 2010 in the designated 39 tiger reserves of India.
According to the last Census report of 2008, the population of big cat was at 1411.
In the Sundarbans archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, the tiger count is 70, according to the latest Census, busting the myth that the number is 275 as bandied about by the West Bengal government for long.
“Someone from the West Bengal government should answer what they were doing in the past ten years. Will they accept the figure,” asked tiger expert Valmik Thapar speaking to NDTV after the figures were made available.
According to the Census, the tiger population in Shivalik-Gangetic plains is 353, in the Central and Eastern Ghats 601, in Western Ghats 534 and in the Northeast hills and Brahmaputra flood plains at 148.
The Census report was released by Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday.
Tiger experts said despite the increase India should not be carried out by mere figures and should put the money in right place and through right mechanism.
The rise in number came as a boost to the wildlife authorities in India after the earlier setbacks of dwindling tiger population, including the Sariska shock of 2004 when it was found that there was no big cat left in the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.
With an aim to preserving the declining number of tigers in the countries which are having the highest population, a Global Workshop on Implementation of the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) and General Assembly of the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) commenced in New Delhi from Monday.
The conference marks the first follow up of the meeting amongst countries that still have wild tigers following Nov 2010?s tiger summit at St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), a worldwide plan to bring the species back from the brink of extinction, was framed at the Russian summit.
Participants from all tiger range countries will present their national priority actions for 2011 and the international partners will outline their support to assist TRCs in their implementation needs, an official release said.
The overall goal of the workshop will be to have an essential on-the-ground impact in tiger conservation and management of tiger ecosystems in 2011, a government release mentioned.
Objectives of this conference include sharing of the refined methodology and best practices in conserving tigers in India, open the dialogue on conservation and infrastructure sector through Smart Green Infrastructure that promises adding value to the adversely tiger ecosystems.
The conference is hosted by the national Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment and Forests, and co-organized and co-sponsored by the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) and Global Tiger Initiative (GTI).
The countries participating are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.