Tiger Deaths, Tiger Conservation status and Protection Measures in India

NTCA Report on Tiger Deaths- Relevance for UPSC Exam

• GS Paper 3: Environment- Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation;

NTCA Report on Tiger Deaths- Context

• Recently, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) recorded the highest tiger deaths in 2021 since it began collecting the data for the same a decade ago.

NTCA Report on Tiger Deaths- Key Findings

• Highest Tiger Deaths in a Year: The National Tiger Conservation Authority recorded 126 tiger deaths in the year 2021, the highest in the last decade.
• State-wise Tiger Deaths: As per NTCA findings, Madhya Pradesh at the maximum tiger deaths is followed by 26 in Maharashtra and 14 in Karnataka.
• Causes of Tiger Deaths: Tiger deaths are under the scrutiny of the state as well as the NCTA.
  • NCTA said that there can be numerous causes for death as the population of tigers is huge and a standard operating procedure (SoP) is followed to ascertain the reasons.

Sunderban Tiger Reserve: Tigers Reaching Carrying Capacity

Tigers in India- Conservation Status

• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Tigers are listed under Schedule I of the WLP Act.
• IUCN Red List: Tigers are listed under the ‘Endangered’ category of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
• CITES: Tigers are globally protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Tiger Conservation Efforts in India- Key Government Efforts

• Project Tiger: The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched Project Tiger in 1973 for protecting tigers in the country’s national parks.
  • Project Tiger is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Environment Ministry.
• Establishment of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA): It was established in 2005 based on recommendations of the Tiger Task Force.
  • Legal Status: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
  • Parent Legislation: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was established as per enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 by amending it in 2006.
• M-STrIPES Initiative: M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) is an NTCA initiative that provides a mobile monitoring system for forest guards.
• ‘T X 2’ initiative of the Petersburg Tiger Summit: India achieved the target of doubling the tiger population (‘T X 2’ Slogan) four years ahead of schedule (2022) of the St. Petersburg Declaration on tiger conservation.

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

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