Tiger Conservation in India: Initiatives, Challenges & Way Forward

Subject: GS 03: Environment 

Context: International Tiger Day is observed every year on 29 July to highlight the global importance of tiger conservation.

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About Tiger

• Tigers are the largest wild cat species in the world.
• Scientific Name: Panthera tigris
• Conservation Status IUCN: 
  • Schedule I: Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
  • Endangered: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List
  • Appendix I: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 
• Significance: They are apex predators and play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems.
• Habitat Requirements: Tigers are “landscape” species.
  • They need vast areas with diverse habitats. 
    • These areas must be free from human disturbance and rich in prey to support tigers.
    • These areas, called tiger landscapes, are crucial for biodiversity and the well-being of human communities living nearby.

Status of Tiger

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India’s Governance Architecture for Tiger Conservation

• Project Tiger
  • A flagship Centrally Sponsored Scheme, implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
  • Provides financial and technical assistance to tiger-range States.
  • Combines habitat protection, scientific management, and field-based monitoring.
  • Legal basis: Section 38V(3) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 mandates every State to prepare a Tiger Conservation Plan for each reserve.
• National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
  • Oversees implementation of Project Tiger.
  • Chaired by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
  • Approves Tiger Conservation Plans and issues SOPs for reserve management.
• Tiger Task Force
  • Reviewed India’s conservation framework; recommendations led to the 2006 amendment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
  • This amendment established both the NTCA and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) as statutory bodies.

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Monitoring and Evaluation of Tigers In India

• All India Tiger Estimation (AITE): Conducted every 4 years by NTCA with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII); recognised as the world’s largest biodiversity survey. The 2022 round also included India’s first nationwide ungulate (prey species) survey.
• M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status): uses GPS, GPRS, and remote sensing for field monitoring.
• CaTRAT (Camera Trap Data Repository and Analysis Tool): AI-based automatic species classification.
• ExtractCompare: Identifies individual tigers via unique stripe patterns.
• Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE): Assesses reserve management quality.

India’s Global Leadership & Partnerships

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