India is celebrating the 50th anniversary of 'Project Tiger' this year. The Government of India has so far spent crores of rupees on the conservation of tigers, while the government has kept a budget of more than Rs 300 crores for the celebration in the current financial year. Despite this, more than 100 tigers have died in the country so far this year. Most of the cause of death has been said to be natural, but is this the right reason for the death of tigers? Is it because of lack of funds or is there some other reason behind it?
According to the official data of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), 106 tigers have died in the country till July 10 this year. Out of this, 100 had died before 30th June i.e. half a year had passed. Among these, the maximum number of deaths have been 27 in 3 states Madhya Pradesh, 21 in Maharashtra and 19 in Kerala.
What is the reason for the death of tigers?
There is no official reason for the death of tigers, while in the public domain its reason is said to be natural, poaching, unnatural but not poaching, etc. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change denies that 'poaching' is the biggest reason for the death of tigers. The ministry says that most of the deaths are due to natural causes, as there has been a significant increase in the number of tigers.
Additional Director General, who is looking after Project Tiger in Mantralaya, S. P. Yadav says that the growth rate of tigers in India's forests is 6 percent. This is the highest in the world. Generally, the age of a tiger is 10 to 12 years, from that point of view, the natural death of tigers is happening within its certain range. Although he believes that hunters are looking for tigers, because there is a good demand for tiger body parts in other countries, and this is a matter of concern.
50 years of Project Tiger in April
On April 9, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told about the increased number of tigers in the country in a program to mark the completion of 50 years of Project Tiger. In 2022, there are estimated to be 3,167 tigers in the wild inside the country. While by the end of this month, the Ministry of Environment will also release the data of the state-wise number of tigers. Meanwhile, the continuous death of cheetahs in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park is a new concern. So far 8 cheetahs have died, out of which 3 cubs were born in India only. And now there are only 15 cheetahs left in the park.
How big a cause of hunting death?
Before 2012, every tiger death in the country was considered as 'poaching'. Since then, the government started keeping scientific data of tiger deaths by identifying post mortem reports, forensic lab reports and other reasons. Since then, on an average 120 tigers are dying every year in the country. The maximum number of deaths in 2021 were of 127 tigers. However, this year the death of the 100th tiger has happened much sooner than in previous years. This happened on 23 June 2023, while in 2022 it happened on 29 November and in 2021 on 2 October.
NTCA data shows that a total of 762 tigers died between 2012 and 2020. In this, 417 natural causes, 44 unnatural but not poaching and 193 happened due to poaching. The remaining 108 deaths occurred due to other reasons.
Is there a paucity of funds for the Tigers?
Although the government has kept a budget of more than 300 crores for Project Tiger in the financial year 2023-24, but the budget allocation for it has decreased continuously in the past years. According to a PIB report, it was Rs 350 crore in 2018-19, which decreased to Rs 282.57 crore in 2019-20, Rs 195 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 220 crore in 2021-22. In 2022-23, the government had allocated Rs 188 crore for this. However, the fluctuations in the budget cannot be directly attributed to the death of tigers.
