On March 9, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced that the center had declared Madhav National Park in Madhya Pradesh the 58th tiger reserve in the country. This is the ninth tiger reserve in the state and the highest of all states. There are six in Maharashtra; five in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka each.
What are the reasons behind establishing tiger reserves?
Although tigers were abundant in Indian history, the number of timber exploitation in hunting, poaching and forest colonies dropped sharply in the early 20th century. It is estimated that in 1964, the country will have 40,000 tigers in the country by the beginning of the 20th century. By the 1960s, these numbers dropped to between 2,000 and 4,000, attributed to wanton hunting, which was helped by the proliferation of gun permits issued in the years after 1947, improving access to forests and clearing large amounts of forests to address various purposes to promote new businesses in the “Shikar Companies” and fur trade.
After the alarm was issued by naturalists, the Indian Wildlife Commission (IBWL) (IBWL) (the earlier National Wildlife Commission Committee) recommended the export of skin to all wild cats, including tigers, at a meeting in July 1969 in New Delhi. In the same year, the 10th Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature was held in Delhi and included tigers in its “Red Data Book” as an endangered species, and adopted a resolution calling for a ban on the killing of tigers. When the figures were further reduced to nearly 1,863, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi commissioned a working group of 11 members to investigate the issue and prepare a project to protect tigers in the wild in India. In August 1972, the task force recommended that eight tiger forests be spread across India and put them under the authority of the “Tiger Project Tiger” because the task was called. On April 1, 1973, Project Tiger was inaugurated at Corbett tiger reserve with nine tiger reserves announced across India — Corbett (then in Uttar Pradesh, now in Uttarakhand), Palamau (then in Bihar, now in Jharkhand), Simlipal (Odisha), Sundarbans (West Bengal), Manas (Assam), Ranthambore (Rajasthan), Kanha (Madhya Pradesh), Melghat (Maharashtra) and Bandipur (Karnataka), they represent various tiger habitats in the country.
What is the content of establishing tiger reserves?
The Tiger Project (replaced by the National Tiger Conservation Agency (NTCA) since 2006) guidelines make it necessary for each tiger reserve to be managed in accordance with a site-specific management plan. The Tiger Project has established a template for scientific management of Indian reserves. It proposes the concept of establishing “core zones” and “buffer zones”, prescribes interventions for conservation, habitat improvement, and field data collection involving animal and plant composition, which is due to changes in conservation, animal estimation and other aspects. The guidelines also develop tiger skin protection plans to ensure: i) protection and on-site habitat management for viable populations targeting tigers, prey and joint representatives, ii) ecologically compatible land use in tiger reserves and connecting one protected area or tiger skin reserves to another area to address the living problems of locals. NTCA’s guide to preparing tiger conservation programs, the constraints imposed by small reserves embedded in human land use, aims to create a stream of people with corridor links in tiger reserves to create corridor connections between the source and sunken habitat. Sources are where animals grow in numbers, and sinks are where they gradually decrease and must be supplemented by introducing animals to increase in numbers to sustainably count. To establish a reserve fund, the center received a proposal from the state, which the NTCA suggested to the state after due diligence, and the state government notified the area that it was a tiger reserve.
How to fund Tiger Reserves?
According to Project Tiger guidelines, the center provides 60% of the protection funds, while the rest is borne by the relevant states. In terms of states in the Northeast and Himalayas, the center covers 90% of the funds. These activities include anti-poaching programs, habitat improvement and water development, resolving human-animal conflicts, designating Inviolate spaces, and relocating villages from critical tiger habitats by providing better relocation packaging. It also supports states in addressing the rights of displaced persons, repairing traditional hunting tribes living in and around tiger reserves, conducting independent monitoring and evaluating tiger reserves.
Why is Madhav National Park important?
The estimated area is 165.32 square kilometers and was initially notified as the National Parks Act of Madhya Pradesh under the 1955 National Parks Act. It won’t have tigers and two females relocated there until 2023 until 2023. Today, the population has grown to seven. However, Madhav Reserve is an important connecting corridor in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. It is also connected to Kuno National Park, which now has captive cheetahs. Experts speculate that these predators may compete with the deer’s prey base, resulting in their complex dynamics.
Madhya Pradesh has several famous tiger reserves such as Kanha, Panna and Bandhavgarh. Due to successful conservation strategies, the state has the highest number of tigers (785). However, Kuno-Madhav Forestry in the northern part of the state has historically been relatively neglected. With Kuno’s importance as an emerging Cheetah Reserve, more centralized management strategies are expected to oversee the cheetah and tiger populations, which contribute to the long-term development of the region as a wildlife site.
After the Supreme Court Green Green Project, there are plans to place the lions in Gujarat Gir in Kuno National Park. In March 2023, the government told the Supreme Court that moving the lion to Kuno could create tension between Pride and cheetahs imported from Namibia and South Africa, and seeking time to re-examine the issue. But if the lion is to be moved to Kuno, it also means more funds (central and international) for protection.
As of the 2023 tiger census, India is estimated to have 3,682 tigers. About 30% of these are considered to live outside the tiger reserves.
publishing – March 16, 2025 at 06:00 am
