Indian Government Boosts Tiger Conservation Funding 400 Percent
02/04/2008 10:05:40anuary 2008. Showing how seriously it views the current tiger crisis, the Government of India yesterday upped the country's tiger conservation budget nearly 4 times to $ 150 million, clearly sharpening the focus on reducing human-animal conflict by emphasizing that the bulk of it would be used for rehabilitating people living in core areas of identified tiger habitats.
Announcing this the Finance Minister P Chidambaram said after a Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting held in the capital on Wednesday that the Central government has approved $150 million for the recently constituted National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) during the 11th Plan , up from $37 million in the 10th Plan. Over 83 per cent of this amount ($125 million) will be used for rehabilitating those living in forest villages inside core areas of the tiger reserves.
Project tiger
NTCA (earlier known as Project Tiger) was conceived in India in 1972 to halt the rapidly dwindling numbers of tigers in India. A personal favourite of the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the project was launched in 1973 and in its initial years was considered one of the most successful wildlife conservation programmes as tiger numbers increased from 1,200 in the 1970s to 3,500 in the 1990s.
There are 28 NTCA reserves in the country today apart from another eight that have been added last year and a part of the funds will also be used to strengthen these. The implementation of the scheme would ensure a curb on unlawful activities within tiger reserves, providing inviolate space for tigers in core or critical habitat areas and provide conditions for increasing tiger population in the country, Chidambaram added.
Courtesy of the Wildlife Trust of India
Project tiger
NTCA (earlier known as Project Tiger) was conceived in India in 1972 to halt the rapidly dwindling numbers of tigers in India. A personal favourite of the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the project was launched in 1973 and in its initial years was considered one of the most successful wildlife conservation programmes as tiger numbers increased from 1,200 in the 1970s to 3,500 in the 1990s.
There are 28 NTCA reserves in the country today apart from another eight that have been added last year and a part of the funds will also be used to strengthen these. The implementation of the scheme would ensure a curb on unlawful activities within tiger reserves, providing inviolate space for tigers in core or critical habitat areas and provide conditions for increasing tiger population in the country, Chidambaram added.
Courtesy of the Wildlife Trust of India
