The Cabinet in its meeting held on September 11, approved continuation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats for the 15^th Finance Commission cycle for an overall outlay of Rs. 2602.98 crores. The said scheme includes the critical Project Tiger sub component along with Project Elephant and Development of Wildlife Habitat. This was one of the items included in the 100-day action plan of the Government.

While strengthening the existing fundamental and core components of the scheme, the scheme envisages to boost technological interventions in different thematic areas over the current and next financial year in our tiger and wildlife bearing forests.

The Project Tiger already has an inherent use of technology in day-to-day management practices such as the M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers, Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) mobile application. The latter is in sync with the Digital India initiative and was extensively used for collection of field level ecological data during the 5^th cycle of the All-India Tiger Estimation in 2022. The All-India Tiger Estimation itself is technologically intensive with the extensive deployment of camera traps across tiger habitats of the country. This exercise also makes use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for species level identification. Conservation genetics has also been significantly used in the field of tiger conservation wherein a SOP for translocating tigers based on their genetic composition has been issued. Further, genetics has also been used to determine tiger numbers in low density landscapes as well as for determining the food ecology of the species. These interventions are proposed to be enhanced under the said scheme.

The Project Tiger component also supports the ambitious Project Cheetah in the country which shall be continued under the umbrella scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats. The areas for Cheetah introduction are proposed to be expanded as per the Cheetah Action Plan under the said scheme and efforts shall be made to strengthen monitoring protocols using advanced radio telemetry protocols.

The Project Dolphin under the Development of Wildlife Habitat component is proposed to be supported by provisioning equipment such as Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and passive acoustic monitoring devices for enumeration of dolphins as well as their habitat. Project Lion, also under the ambit of the Development of Wildlife Habitat shall be strengthened as per activities envisaged in the document titled “Lion @ 2047: A vision for Amrut Kaal”. Human-elephant conflict under the Project Elephant component is envisaged to leverage information and communication technology interventions. While these have been tested on an experimental basis, the same shall be deployed on a larger scale.

55 tiger reserve, 33 elephant reserves and 718 protected areas and their zones of influence stand to benefit. The forests of these areas are a bulwark against the adversities of climate change besides ensuring water security of the nation. In addition, the cause of keystone species occupying these landscapes, especially the tiger, the elephant, the cheetah, the snow leopard and the lion, which act as an indicator of these ecosystems will be furthered. Not only this, lesser known species, especially those identified for the Species recovery programme under the Development of Wildlife Habitat component, stand to gain with the continuation of the scheme.

The scheme has a livelihood generation of more than 50 lakh man days through direct engagement in addition to indirect employment through eco-tourism and ancillary activities.

The continuation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats reiterates the commitment of the Government towards tiger and wildlife conservation ensuring that economy and ecology grow together.

The overall outlay for the three components for the 15^th Finance Commission cycle as well as its remaining period:

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NB/GS