On the occasion of International Tiger Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with congratulating the nation on the occasion also released the All India Tiger Estimation report 2018. PM Modi tweeted, “The only thing that I want to say to the people related to this field is that the story which went from ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ to ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ should not stop at that. All the efforts related to Tiger Conservation should be expanded and accelerate.”
मैं इस क्षेत्र से जुड़े लोगों से यही कहूंगा कि जो कहानी ‘एक था टाइगर’ के साथ शुरू होकर ‘टाइगर जिंदा है’ तक पहुंची है, वो वहीं न रुके। केवल टाइगर जिंदा है, से काम नहीं चलेगा। Tiger Conservation से जुड़े जो प्रयास हैं उनका और विस्तार होना चाहिए, उनकी गति और तेज की जानी चाहिए: PM
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 29, 2019
The story that started with @EkThaTiger and then continued with @TigerZindaHai , should not stop there. It should be "Baaghon mein bahaar hai" : PM @narendramodi on a lighter note on the occasion of #InternationalTigerDay @PrakashJavdekar @moefcc pic.twitter.com/p04M8lIbaq
— PIB India (@PIB_India) July 29, 2019
According to the report, more than 70% of the wild tigers, which is around 2967 inhabit India. The estimations of tigers previously had shown that in the year 2006 the country had around 1411 tigers while four years ahead in 2010 the nation had 1706 tigers which translated to a growth of around 5.22%. The report indicated that the average growth rate of tigers has been around 6% per year however, in the last four years, the growth has been much higher at around 8.32%. The low growth rate previously is also an indication of how laggy conservation efforts under UPA and rampant poaching had hurt the wildlife conservation agenda and the accelerated growth rate over the NDA just substantiates the inefficiencies during the UPA rule.
The previous count which was done in 2014 it pegged the total number of tigers in the country at 2226, which have had significant growth of 7.62%. The estimations of 2018 are 2967 which gets the growth rate at 8.32%.
“India is doing wonderful in conservation of tiger, all we need to focus on inter-connection of tiger habitats, which is at receiving end due to urbanization. There are concerns like ‘extinction’ of tigers at some places, which historically had less population of tigers but, that cannot be the excuse and we need to save those reserves.” A senior scientist and tiger expert from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, involved in the estimation analysis told the Times of India.
“Nine long years ago, it was decided in St. Petersburg (Russia) that the target of doubling the tiger population would be 2022. We in India completed this target four years in advance. This is the finest example of Sankalp Se Siddhi (Attainment through Resolve),” PM Modi said.
PM Modi also reaffirmed India’s commitment towards the conservation of wildlife. At the release of All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018 on Monday, he said, “Today we reaffirm our commitment towards protecting tigers. Results of the just declared Tiger Census would make every Indian happy. Nine years ago it was decided in St. Petersburg that target of doubling tiger population will be 2022. We completed this target 4 years early.”
According to the report, Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of tigers at 526, closely followed by Karnataka at 524 and Uttarakhand at number 3 with around 442 tigers. Launching the report PM Modi also pointed out India is now one of the safest habitats in the world for tigers. Over the past few years, the efforts of the Indian administration and forest officials have led to tremendous growth in well being of India’s rich biodiversity. Tigers are not only important in maintaining the critical ecological balance, but also attract tourist from around the world to who travel thousands of kilometers to watch the majestic animal in its natural habitat.