The Government of India through the National Tiger Conservation Authority has published the Status of Ungulates in Tiger habitats of India based on findings of the 5th Cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation, 2022. As per findings of the report, the preferred prey species of tiger are increasing or stable in most landscapes of the country.

The Government of India through the National Tiger Conservation Authority provides funding support under the Project Tiger Component of the umbrella Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats which inter-alia provides financial assistance for habitat management, prey augmentation and recovery which emanates from a statutory Tiger Conservation Plan which is site specific and grounded in science and field craft.

The Government of India, through the National Tiger Conservation Authority, has issued a three-pronged strategy to deal with conflict which is as below:   

• Material and logistical support: Funding support through the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger, is provided to tiger reserves for acquiring capacity in terms of infrastructure and material, to deal with tigers dispersing out of source areas.  These are solicited by tiger reserves through an Annual Plan of Operation (APO) every year which stems from an overarching Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP), mandated under Section 38 V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.  Inter alia, activities such as payment of ex-gratia and compensation, periodic awareness campaigns to sensitize, guide and advise the general populace on man-animal conflict, dissemination of information through various forms of media, procurement of immobilization equipment, drugs, training and capacity building of forest staff to deal with conflict events are generally solicited.

• Restricting habitat interventions: Based on the carrying capacity of tigers in a tiger reserve, habitat interventions are restricted through an overarching TCP.  In case tiger numbers are at carrying capacity levels, it is advised that habitat interventions should be limited so that there is no excessive spill over of wildlife including tigers thereby minimizing man-animal conflict.  Further, in buffer areas around tiger reserves, habitat interventions are restricted such that they are sub-optimal vis-à-vis the core/critical tiger habitat areas, judicious enough to facilitate dispersal to other rich habitat areas only.

• Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs): The National Tiger Conservation Authority has issued following three SOPs to deal with human-animal conflict, which are available in public domain:

1. To deal with emergency arising due to straying of tigers in human dominated landscapes. 

2. To deal with tiger depredation on livestock. 

3. For active management towards rehabilitation of tigers from source areas at the landscape level.

The three SOPs inter alia include the issue of managing dispersing tigers, managing livestock kills so as to reduce conflict as well as relocating tigers from source areas to areas where density of tiger is low, so that conflict in rich source areas does not occur. The Project Tiger Component inter-alia provides nearly 50 lakh mandays of employment through direct or indirect means ensuring livelihood security of the people.

This information was provided by UNION MINISTER OF STATE FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE, SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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VM/SK

(Rajya Sabha US Q1339)

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