Kendrapada: There was only one instance of tiger poaching in Odisha in the past three years, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate change, informed Lok Sabha on Monday.
Madhya Pradesh topped the list with 16 tiger deaths due to poaching during the same period, followed by Maharashtra (5), while Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Assam reported three cases each. Kerala, Bihar and Tamil Nadu recorded two cases each with Uttarakhand reporting one incident.
Responding to a question from MP Brijmohan Agrawal, the minister revealed that India’s tiger population has shown significant growth. The All India Tiger Estimation 2022 recorded 3,682 tigers, up from 2,967 in 2018 and 2,226 in 2014.
The country currently has 58 tiger reserves, which receive funding through the centrally sponsored scheme of integrated development of wildlife habitats (CSS-IDWH). This support covers various aspects of tiger conservation, including habitat management, protection, eco-development and infrastructure development.
The minister added that tiger reserves can request additional resources through annual plan of operations (APO) to manage tigers dispersing from source areas. The scheme also provides for ex gratia payment, awareness campaigns on man-animal conflict and training of forest staff.
To minimise human-wildlife conflict, habitat interventions are regulated based on the carrying capacity of tiger reserves, as outlined in the tiger conservation plan under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.