Every warning on tiger poaching was correct. Every news story on disappearing tigers was correct. Results of the first count are in and officials say there may be a shortfall of 150 tigers or more ? poisoned, trapped or killed.
Every warning on tiger poaching was correct. Every news story on disappearing tigers was correct. Results of the first count are in and officials say there may be a shortfall of 150 tigers or more — poisoned, trapped or killed.
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The figures look dismal — 3,500 tigers compared to 3,646 in 2001. It is not just 150 tigers less. Officials say because of all the efforts going into Project Tiger their population was expected to rise by 500 — so the shortfall is possibly in the range of 650.
The number of surviving tigers is being put anywhere between 3,200 and 3,500. “There can be some changes once the second round of census is completed and computerised examination of pugmarks is done,” said an official. But don’t expect a surge.
Reports in recent months have shown a decline in some of the best-known reserves such as Ranthambhore and Sariska. Alarmed by these reports Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up a task force in 2005 to look at all the 28 reserves.
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The current figures are the result of pugmark identification done in November and December. Now these figures are being double-checked through ground inspections and a computerised system.
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The current figures are the result of pugmark identification done in November and December. Now these figures are being double-checked through ground inspections and a computerised system.
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The tiger population has gone down for the second consecutive census. In 1997, there had been 3,836 tigers.
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.
