
17 May 2012
The Supreme Court has directed all states to demarcate and notify buffer zones around each of their tiger reserves within three months. While conservationists say the order would curb commercialisation of revenue land around tiger habitats, tribal rights activists think its implementation will result in repression of forest dwellers by forest departments. Click on date for more details
15 May 2012
A forest ranger and a forester were recently beaten up by the illegal mining mafia in the core area of the Rathambhore reserve. For more information click on date
08 May 2012
Aptly titled, 'Corbett, now on sale', a story in a weekly magazine brought an open secret out in print: The land around - and even inside - the Corbett Tiger Reserve is up for grabs, controlled by the country's Who's Who. It highlighted how tourism resorts have destroyed the Kosi river corridor, cutting off access for animals to a crucial water source. This matter had in fact first come to light in a report, 'Impact of tourism on tigers and other wildlife of Corbett', published in January 2010. Click on date for more details
Revised Cost Estimates for Project tiger
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)11-August, 2011 19:48 IST
| Revised cost estimates for Project Tiger |
| The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved an upward revision of the cost estimates for the ongoing centrally sponsored scheme of Project Tiger (PT) during the Xlth plan period from Rs.650 crore to Rs.1216.86 crore of central assistance. The upward revision has been necessitated due to increased action for relocation of villages from the notified core/critical tiger habitats as also inclusion of additional components. Details of approval obtained are as below: (i) The Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger at Rs.1369.56 crore with central assistance of Rs.1216.86 crore for the XIth Plan period against the earlier sanctioned central assistance of Rs.650 crore. The Ministry would identify matching savings or alternate source of funding to the tune of Rs.440.29 crore in order to bridge the deficit. (ii) Change in the funding pattern in respect of North Eastern States by increasing the central share from the existing 50% to 90% for Recurring Expenditure, with the States' share becoming 10%. The ongoing support for Non-Recurring Expenditure would continue to be 100%. (iii) Raising compensation for man-animal conflict to Rs.2 lakhs in case of loss of human life, 30 per cent of the same for grievous injury and cost of treatment for minor injury. (iv) Acquisition of private land for making the core/critical tiger habitat inviolate. (v) Establishment of Tiger Safari, interpretation/awareness centres under the existing component of 'co-existence agenda in buffer/fringe areas', and management of such centres through the respective Panchayati Raj Institutions. (vi) Re-introduction of Cheetah in the States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan under the Scheme at a cost of Rs.50 crore after ensuring the historical co-existence of Cheetah with other carnivores, especially the tiger. This would benefit all the 40 tiger reserves falling in 17 tiger States, besides the people living in the fringe areas (buffer), as well as communities opting for voluntary relocation from the core/critical tiger habitats (4052 families). In all, approximately 24 lakh mandays are generated annually with 50% central assistance amounting to around Rs.24 crore (excluding matching 50% share given by States) under Project Tiger. Many local tribes constitute such local workforce (besides non-tribals), e.g. Baigas, Gonds in Madhya Pradesh, Gonds in Maharashtra, Chenchus in Andhra Pradesh, Sholigas in Karnataka, Gujjars in Uttarakhand and Irulas in Tamil Nadu to name a few. The deployment of such local tribals has been fostered /encouraged in the last two years. The tiger population in the country has registered an increase from 1411 in 2006 to 1706 in 2010. India has the maximum number of wild tigers and tiger habitats in the world conserved due to Project Tiger. The National Tiger Conservation Authority provides a statutory basis to Project Tiger and has an overarching role as provided in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.. The implementation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger would be done through the respective States in designated tiger reserves. Background : "Project Tiger" was launched by the Government of India in 1973 in nine reserves of different States (Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) over an area of approximately 14,000 sq. km. Since then, the project coverage has expanded considerably to 40 tiger reserves (TR), encompassing an area of around 46,388.22 sq.km. in 17 tiger States with 32578.78 sq.km. of notified core/ critical tiger habitats in 16 tiger States. Further, in-principle approval has been accorded for creation of 6 new tiger reserves. The Government of India has revamped its tiger conservation efforts through the setting up of the NTCA by amending the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 in 2006, based on the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force constituted by the National Board for Wildlife under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister. Several milestone initiatives have been taken by the Government to strengthen tiger conservation in the country. SH/SKS (Release ID :74438) |








