PROJECT TIGER

Project Tiger was launched in

1973 in India. The project
aims at ensuring a viable
population of tigers in
their natural habitats and
preserving areas of biological
importance as a natural
heritage for the people.

Its Goals and Objectives –

Project Tiger was meant to
identify the limiting factors
and to mitigate them by
suitable management. The
damages done to the habitat
were to be rectified so as to
facilitate the recovery of the
ecosystem to the maximum
possible.
The potential tiger habitats
being covered are-

 Sivalik-Terai conservation
unit (Uttaranchal,
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West
Bengal), and in Nepal.

 North East conservation

unit.

 Sunder bans
conservation unit.

 Central Indian
conservation unit.

 Eastern Ghat
conservation unit.

 Western Ghat
conservation unit.
 Developments
IN Tiger
Reserves AT
PRESENT
 Wireless communication
system and outstation
patrol camps have been
developed within the tiger
reserves, due to which
poaching has declined
considerably.

 Fire protection
engineering is carried out
by suitable preventive and
control measures.
 Villages have been
relocated in many reserves,
especially from core areas.

 Livestock grazing has

been controlled to a great
extent in the tiger reserves.

 Various compensatory
developmental works have
improved the water regime
and the ground and field
level vegetation, thereby
increasing the tiger density.

The Indian tiger population

at the turn of the 20th
century was estimated at
20,000 to 40,000
individuals. The first
country-wide tiger census
conducted in 1995
 estimated the population to
comprise a little more than
1,800 individuals.
 
 Elimination of all forms of
human exploitation and
biotic disturbance from the
core area and
rationalization of activities
in the buffer zone.
 
 Restricting the habitat
management only to repair
the damages done to the
ecosystem by human and
other interferences so as to
facilitate recovery of the
ecosystem to its natural
state.
 
 Monitoring the faunal
and floral changes over
 time and carrying out
research about wildlife.
 Global organizations such
as the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) contributed much
funding to Project Tiger.
 Eventually, however, it
was discovered that the
project’s field
 Directors had been
manipulating tiger census
numbers in order to
encourage more financial
support. In fact, the
numbers was so
exaggerated as to be
biologically impossible in
some cases.
 In addition, Project
Tiger’s efforts were
damaged by poaching,
 As well as the Sariska
debacle and the latest
Namdapha tragedy, both of
which were reported
extensively in Indian media.