Madhya Pradesh has firmly established itself as the ‘Tiger state’ reporting 785 tigers – the highest in the country - as per the All India Tiger Estimation-2022 detailed report released on Saturday, on the occasion of Global Tiger Day.
The state is way ahead of Karnataka, which has the second-highest population at 563. Uttarakhand came in very close, ranked third with 560 big cats.
Madhya Pradesh has reported a whopping 155 per cent rise in tiger population in the past eight years as the state had a population of 308 in 2014 and thus in this duration, 477 tigers were added. Tiger estimation is done every four years. Madhya Pradesh reported 526 tigers in 2018 estimation and in the past four years, there has been a 50 per cent increase in the animal population.
The achievement of Madhya Pradesh is more appreciable on the face of the fact that between 2012 and 2022, the state reported 270 tiger deaths as per the website of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which is also the highest in the country. In the first seven months of 2023, another 28 deaths were reported. Maharashtra with 184 deaths and Karnataka with 150 deaths in a decade are way behind Madhya Pradesh in tiger mortalities.
CM Chouhan congratulates, acknowledges role of community
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan congratulated the people of the state on the achievement and also acknowledged the role of the community in tiger conservation.
“It is a matter of great pride and joy that the number of tigers in Madhya Pradesh has increased from 526 to 785 in the last four years. Hearty congratulations to all the people of the state. This proud achievement was possible with the contribution of the hardworking colleagues of the forest department, wildlife lovers and citizens. I express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for your cooperation. Come, let us all together take a pledge to conserve nature for future generations on 'Global Tiger Day',” he tweeted.
Later in a programme to mark the day, the CM said, “Rehabilitation of Tiger is not an easy task but we took this task in our hands and today we are the ‘Tiger State’. Madhya Pradesh has played an important role in saving wildlife. We are the best in the field of forestry and along with being the Tiger State, we are also the Leopard and Gharial State.”
“This wasn't possible without the cooperation of the community. There are some unfortunate incidents, sometimes people lose lives, yet, the community is working shoulder to shoulder with the state for the conservation of tigers,” he added.
Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey also underlined the role of the local community and the near completion of relocation of villages out of tiger reserves as major reasons for the sharp rise in tiger population. “The local people, especially newer generations of tribal communities have understood the importance of conservation and the benefits of going along with conservation measures for earning livelihood. The incidents of people killing tigers in case cattle are eaten have declined. Also, the relocation of villages out of tiger reserves has meant more space for the breeding female tigers,” he said.
3,925 tigers in the country
According to the report released on Saturday by Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change at Corbett Tiger Reserve, the upper limit of tiger population in the country in 2022 is estimated to be 3,925, the average number being estimated at 3,682. This is almost 75 per cent of world's tiger population.
Earlier, in April 2023, during the celebration of 50 years of the Project Tiger at Mysuru (Karnataka), Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared minimum tiger population of 3,167, which was the population estimate from the camera-trapped area. The latest figures are based on further analysis of data by the Wildlife Institute of India, from both camera-trapped and non-camera-trapped tiger presence areas, a PIB release said.
The note said that Central India and the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains witnessed notable increases in tiger population, particularly in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Maharashtra (444 tigers). Uttarakhand had 442 tigers in 2018 while Maharashtra had 312.
However, certain regions, such as the Western Ghats, experienced localized declines, necessitating targeted monitoring and conservation efforts. Some states, including Mizoram, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Goa, Chhattisgarh, and Arunachal Pradesh, have reported disquieting trends with small tiger populations. Chhattisgarh reported only 17 tigers, two down from 2018.
The tiger abundance within the Tiger Reserve is highest in Corbett (260), followed by Bandipur (150), Nagarhole (141), Bandhavgarh (135), Dudhwa (135), Mudumalai(114), Kanha (105), Kaziranga (104), Sundarbans (100), Tadoba (97), Sathyamangalam (85), and Pench-MP (77), the release said.
