50 years of Project Tiger

50 years of Project Tiger

Project Tiger is India’s homegrown initiative to protect the tigers’ dwindling numbers. Project Tiger was launched on 1st April, 1973 with a view to promoting tiger conservation.

Project Tiger is an ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change providing central assistance to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves.

An initiative to save tigers, Project Tiger was first initiated in the year April 1, 1973 in Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.

Initially, the project tiger covered nine tiger reserves covering an area of over 18,278 sq km. As things stand today India has 53 tiger reserves spanning more than 75,000 sq km, accounting for  approximately 2.4 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. 

The tiger popular in India was 3,167 in 2022, according to the latest tiger census data released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9th April 2023.  

Although India has only 2.4 per cent of the world's land area, its share of the global biodiversity is an impressive 8.1 per cent.

India is home to 75% of the world’s tiger population

The tiger reserves in India cover 75,000 square kilometers of land

Tiger is worshipped by the Bharia community from Central India and Worli community from Maharashtra 

India is the only country in the world to have Asiatic lions 

The total number of  Ramsar Sites in the country is 75. Ramsar Sites are wetlands of international importance that have been designated under the criteria of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands signed on 2nd February, 1971.

About International Big Cats Alliance 
The Prime Minister launched the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA). 

IBCA will focus on protection and conservation of seven major big cats of the world such as tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar, and cheetah with membership of the range countries harbouring these species.

Membership to the International Big Cats Alliance will be open to 97 countries and organizations interested in protecting these animals.

The IBCA will engage in advocacy, partnership, knowledge e-portal, capacity building, eco-tourism, partnerships between expert groups and finance tapping.

The main objective of the alliance is to rehabilitate the big cats.

 

About Project Tiger

  • Project Tiger is an ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
  • Project Tiger was launched on 1st April, 1973 with a view to promoting tiger conservation.
  • Project Tiger was launched when it was found that India’s tigers were fast going extinct due to habitat loss, increased poaching, unregulated sport hunting and retaliatory killing by people.
  • Project Tiger was first initiated in the year April 1, 1973 in Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.

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