Why in News?

• July 29 is celebrated world over as the International Tiger Day in a bid to raise awareness on various issues surrounding tiger conservation.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About the International Tiger Day
• Performance of India towards Tiger Conservation
• What is Project Tiger?
• Successes and Setbacks of the Project Tiger
• Fifty years of Project Tiger

About the International Tiger Day:

• It was first instituted in 2010 at the Tiger Summit in St Petersburg, Russia when the 13 tiger range countries came together to create Tx2, the global goal to double the number of wild tigers by the year 2022.
• However, the designated date for achieving the goals of Tx2 saw uneven progress.

Performance of India towards Tiger Conservation:

• As per the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), while countries in Southeast Asia struggled to control population decline, India fared much better.
• According to the Wildlife Institute of India's (WII) 5th tiger census (quadrennial), India’s tiger population increased to 3,682 in 2022 (revised from 3,167 recently), up from 1,411 in 2006.
  • In 2022, the maximum number of tigers (785) were reported to be in MP, followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444).
  • Nearly a quarter of the tigers were reportedly outside protected areas.
• This is made possible because of political commitment, which led to governments, communities, conservation organisations, etc., working together.
• The successes in India can be attributed largely to the success of Project Tiger, which celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this year (2023).

What is Project Tiger?

• Project Tiger was launched by the Central government on April 1, 1973, at the Jim Corbett National Park (Uttarakhand) to promote conservation of the tiger.
  • According to reports, while there were 40,000 tigers in the country at the time of the Independence, they were soon reduced to below 2,000 by 1970 due to widespread hunting and habitat destruction.
  • In 1970, the IUCN declared the tiger as an endangered
• The programme was initially started in 9 tiger reserves of different States such as Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, UP and West Bengal, covering over 14,000 sq km.
• Notably, Project Tiger didn’t just focus on the conservation of the big cats. It also ensured the preservation of their natural habitat as tigers are at the top of the food chain.

Successes and Setbacks of the Project Tiger:

• The number of tigers in India began to rise and by the 1990s, their population was estimated to be around 3,000.
• However, the success story of Project Tiger suffered a major setback when the local extermination of tigers in Rajasthan’s Sariska made headlines in 2005.
• This led to the setup of a task force and the government reconstituted Project Tiger and established the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 2005.
• The NTCA had more power to check poaching and preserve the tiger population by setting up the Tiger Protection Force and funding the relocation of villages from the protected areas.

Fifty years of Project Tiger:

• Today, there are 54 tiger reserves across India, spanning 75,000 sq km.
• Nearly 75% of the global tiger population (in the wild) can today be found in India.
• The goal of Project Tiger is to have a viable and sustainable tiger population in tiger habitats based on a scientifically calculated carrying capacity.
• This means the tiger population of the country cannot be increased at the same pace because that will result in an increase in conflict with human beings.