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Report On 1411 Tigers In IndiaThe Past, Present and Future

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1411 Tigers Report

1411 Tigers In India : The Past,

Present And Future

Report prepared by PGDM Students XIMB 2010 -12

Report Submitted by :

Amit Kaundinya (u110127)Jaspreet Sood (u110139)

Prasanna Kumar (u110151)Saras Mishra (u110163)

Swayamsiddha Das (u110176)Tanvir Raza (u110179)

Confidential 1


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Letter of Transmittal

The majestic tiger regarded as the national animal of India is finding its species in

danger of being extinct.The striped cats are facing a steady decline in their

population from around 40,000 at the turn of last century, the number stands at 1411

today. If this continues to be the way things turn, then in a decade, tigers would soon

be an extinct animal in our country and we will have to start the search to nominate

another animal as the national animal for our country. Our children would be able to

see the majestic striped cats only in captured pictures in classroom books and

encyclopaedias.

This report is an effort at bringing to light the past, the present and the future of tigers

in India. It throws light on the various steps that need to be taken if we do not want

the species to become an extinct one in the country.

Contents

1 Executive Summary....................................................................................4

Confidential 2


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2 Introduction...............................................................................................6

3 The Past ....................................................................................................7

3.1 The Beginning .......................................................................................................................7.....................................................................................................................................................9

3.2 The Sariska Shocker...............................................................................................................93.3 Major Reasons For Decline In Tiger Population......................................................................10

4 The Present ............................................................................................11

4.1 Current Reforms...................................................................................................................11

5 The Future ..............................................................................................19

5.1 How Do We Improve The Future For Tigers ?.........................................................................195.2 International Poaching Ban...................................................................................................23

6 Conclusion................................................................................................26

Confidential 3


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1 Executive Summary

While 1411 is a rough estimate of the number of tigers, based on calculations and statistics found

by the All India Tiger estimation team in 2008, these numbers are nonetheless shocking and

frightening. The lower and upper limits of the tiger population are being 1,165 and 1,657

respectively, with 14111 being the middle value.

While tiger Sanctuaries like Corbett National Park in Uttaranchal and Bandipur, and Nagarhole

in Karnataka are safe havens with the number of tigers in these areas remaining more or less the

same.

Central and Western India were supposed to be the safest havens for tigers in India, but the latest

Tiger Census (refer figures given below) shows that the number of Tigers in Madhya Pradesh

have almost halved in the last five-six years. Sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh like Panna and

Kanha and even Melghat in Maharashtra have witnessed a drastic reduction in the number of

tigers. There are 80 national parks, and 441 wildlife sanctuaries, of which a very few have a

suitable habitat for survival and there are 7 national parks that have restricted zones for tigers to

freely roam around, and live better.

Figure 1 : Number of Tigers Killed Over The Years

A Report On The Past, Present and Future of Tigers In IndiaPage | 4


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With the population of tigers declining so rapidly, things look bad if not controlled quickly

through prompt policies. If the number of tigers keeps reducing, the entire food ecosystem is

going to shift to a dangerous way! We have to help save the tigers and help the count grow,

rather than reduce!



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2 Introduction

In 1972, a year before Project Tiger began there were 1,827 tigers in India. In 1997 the Tiger

Census showed that there were 3,507 tigers. And in 2006 the official estimate of the number of

tigers is 1,411 only. It does not take a statistician to deduce that things are certainly not

happening the right way.

The report throws light on various government initiatives such as having reserves exclusively for

tiger : today there are 28 tiger reserves in the country spread across 17 states. The report

illustrates the decline in tiger population over the years and what steps need to be taken to curbthis decline.

The Project Tiger initiative that started after the Sariska incident is one such initiative to curb the

decline in tiger population. Today various campaigns by companies like AirCel have been started

to bring about a sense of awareness among the common man about conservation of tigers.

The tiger population decline is a cause of concern and corrective steps and their effective

implementation needs to be carried out, if we do not want the tigers to be labelled under the

extinct species of India.



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3 The Past

3.1 The Beginning

In the early 1970s, international concern about the state of the Indian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)

reached a fever pitch. In 1969, the IUCN or World Conservation Union held its general assembly

in Delhi. Based on an assessment by forester K S Sankhala, the assembly called for a moratorium

on tiger killings and asked for urgent action to protect the species. As a sequel to this appeal, the

Indian Board for Wildlife initiated action for protection and asked states to ban tiger hunting for

five years. However, the international community was not convinced.

In 1972 Guy Mountfort, an influential trustee of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), met the

then prime minister Indira Gandhi, urging her to save the species from extinction. Well known

for an abiding concern on environmental and conservation matters, the prime minister set up a

group of specialists to study the situation and create a plan forthe future. Chaired by Karan Singh,

a keen conservationist and currently a Rajya Sabha member, this task force submitted its report in

August 1972. So emerged the blueprint for Indias tiger conservation programme: Project Tiger,

as we know it.

Initially, Project Tiger had been conceived as a plan for six years April 1973 to March 1979.

Its objective was to ensure the maintenance of a viable population of the tiger in India and to

preserve, for all times, such areas as part of our national heritage for the benefit, education and

enjoyment of future generations. After due deliberation, the task force decided to begin with

eight viable reserves representing different ecosystems where the tiger could be protected in

perpetuity.



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These were:

1. Manas, Assam: eastern Himalayan foothills, with semi-evergreen to evergreen forests and

heavy rainfall;

2. Palamau, Bihar (now in Jharkhand): eastern peninsular region, with sal and bamboo forests;

3. Simlipal, Orissa: Mahanadi basin, with moist miscellaneous forests;

4. Corbett, Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttaranchal):central foothills of the Himalaya, with sal as the

predominant species;

5. Ranthambhore, Rajasthan: Junction of Aravalli and Vindhya, with dry deciduous open

forests;

6. Kanha, Madhya Pradesh: central peninsular India, with sal and miscellaneous forests;

7. Melghat, Maharashtra: southern offshoot of Satpura, with deciduous forests dominated by

teak and bamboo; and

8. Bandipur, Karnataka: The miscellaneous forests of the Western Ghats.

Since its inception in 1973 till today (a period of 35+ years), the Central government has

provided Rs 172.65 crore as financial assistance to the parks. If the contribution of states till

March 2004 is added, the country has spent Rs 373 crore on protecting 1500-odd tigers in 28

reserves.

But has this huge allocation of funds actually had an effect in curbing the decline of tiger

population. The graph below (Fig 2) shows that the tiger population in 2006 viz a viz 2002 is

actually reduced.

In the follow up to the 42nd amendment to the Constitution in 1976, the subject of forests and

wildlife shifted from the State list to the Concurrent list. According to the Tiger Task Force

report, the Centre acquired overriding powers to ensure protection and preservation of forests

and wildlife. Since the states did not have a direct stake in protecting wildlife and forests, the

issue of conservation wasnt handled properly. The State found the protection of huge swathes of

forest area for the purpose of conservation of wildlife and forests as an impediment to growth.

The Centre, on the other hand, was distant from the problems faced at the grass root level.



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Fig 2 : Population of tigers in various states

3.2 The Sariska Shocker

In December 2004, the nation was shocked to know that tigers may have disappeared from the

Sariska tiger reserve in Rajasthan. By March 2005, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII)

confirmed in its interim report (which it followed up with detailed habitat monitoring) that there

were indeed no tigers left in Sariska: a huge shocker for wild life conservationists and the

Government of India.

The prime minister asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to inquire into the

disappearance: it reported that since July 2002, poachers had been killing tigers in the reserve and

that the last six tigers were killed in the summer-monsoon of 2004. The CBI report pointed to the

involvement of local villagers. It also suggested the existence of a well-established network of

middlemen trading in tiger parts, with the notorious Sansar Chand at its centre.

With the death and disappearance of a number of tigers at the tiger reserve of Sariska, Rajasthan,

the need for setting up a Tiger task force was felt. The tiger task force was to not only mitigate

the immediate crisis at hand but was to also ensure a secure future for the tigers.

The Tiger Task Force was constituted pursuant to the decision taken during the second meeting

of The Project Tiger Directorate, independently of the Ministry of Forests and Environment



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appointed wildlife professionals to assess the 28 tiger reserves in India, in July 2004. The

ministry on its part mandated to provide the states with scientific, technical and financial support

to the states.

The National Board for Wildlife on March 17, 2003 along with the Ministry of Environment and

Forests (Project Tiger) set up the task force to review the management of tiger reserves.

3.3 Major Reasons For Decline In Tiger Population

The main reasons for decline in tiger population is attributable to human activities. The two major

reasons being :

1. Clearing of forests and habitats

Cleaning up of forests and habitats hits tigers lifestyle in many ways. The space they live

in, gets reduced and also with the same, the prey like deer, wild boars and pigs, cattle etc.

are reducing in such an extent that the survival by feeding on them is getting harder.

Depletion in habitats also makes it hard for tigers to breed successfully. Hence, the

decrease in population of tigers. The number of cubs born, we used to see years back, is

not the same now. It has gone to fractions of what it was.

2. Poaching for tiger skins (supposedly for use in medicinal field, and shopping industry)

Poaching, has been a big business in India lately. Skin of tigers is being used for

medicinal purposes, and also it is used by the ultra rich to adorn their showcases! Sadistic

desires at exhibiting royalty are bringing wrath upon this royal species. Nearly every part

of the tiger has a commercial value. Live tigers are sold as exotic pets. Traditional Asian

medicine uses tiger bone as an ingredient in a number of different concoctions. The skin

is used to make magical amulets and novelties, and worn as part of traditional attire.

The teeth and claws too become amulets, while the tiger penis is an ingredient in

reportedly powerful aphrodisiacs and tonics. The tiger trade is primarily an export-

oriented trade for India. Tiger parts are not in demand in India, but have a large market

abroad.



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4 The Present

4.1 Current Reforms

Below are presented some of the reforms which are in place currently to curb the decline in tiger

population :

1. The hunter the protector

The Tiger Task Force, because of the constraints of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972,

demanded the amendment of criminal provisions and wanted a Wildlife Crime Bureau, to

look after the tigers. It has been seen that the poachers make use of skilled local hunter

communities, who know the inside out of Forests. It was realised that hunters could in

fact become the protectors, by equipping them with knowledge and arms to protect

wildlife. In the course of research it was found that Lisu of Changlang district in

Arunachal Pradesh had immense potential to protect the Namdapha tiger reserve there.

2. Remove the Pug mark

The task force also realised that there was a huge disconnect with the wildlife researchersand bureaucracy in charge of conservation. Also it was found that even though a lot of

research was being carried out in terms of conservation and protection methods very few

of the outcomes of the research were actually being put into practice. Also with time, the

pug mark method used to count tigers has become unscientific and there is a need for

replacement of the method. The alternative to this methodology for counting has been

found to be better in estimating tigers and their habitat and therefore it is of importance

that it replaces the archaic pug mark method. This method of estimation will ensure that

researchers will get the exact estimate of tiger population and hence be able to take

necessary corrective action.

3. Relocation and Its catches



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For the proper protection of the tiger, the tiger needs to be able to move and hunt around

freely in the forest, which does not happen because of people inhabiting the forests and

the forests being their source of survival. This makes the relocation of villages, of

tantamount importance. But it has been found that the cost of relocation is exorbitantly

high and a nightmare. According to the Task Force report, it has been estimated that

roughly, there are 65,000 families in 1500 villages, or 325,000 people (@ five per

family) inside the core and buffer zones of tiger reserves. At the current rate of

compensation the government gives to families it seeks to relocate (Rs 1 lakh), it would

cost Rs 665 crore to relocate all families from tiger reserves. If the rate of compensation

is enhanced say, to Rs 2.5 lakh it would require Rs1,663 crore to re-settle all.

And usually the villagers are resettled into forest area, for which the state government,

relocating the villages under its jurisdiction, needs to pay the central government the Net

Present Value (NPV), which is fixed at Rs. 5.8 9 lakh per hectare, depending on the

type of forest being used), increasing the cost to Rs. 9654 lakh. Also it is important the

relocation be time bound, for it has been found that only 80 villagers have been relocated

in the last 30 years.

It has been found that the simplistic adherence to the rule of relocation has only

aggravated the economic problems of forest dependent people. Therefore, reserves where

relocation is imperative, people have turned hostile to the idea of relocation.

It is that the following issues need to be understood:

a. What are the legal provisions that govern the rights of local people in protected areas?

b. What is the empirical evidence that the use of habitats by people is endangering

conservation efforts?

c. What can be done to better manage competing needs? What resolution does

coexistence provide?

Till date, the government has no estimate of the number of people who live within the

various categories of protected areas in our country. As a result of which, there has been



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no empirical assessment of the impact human habitation has on these protected areas.

What is the dependence of people on these lands to meet their subsistence and livelihood

needs is still not known. In these circumstances, the conservationist pressures drive

governments into believing that it is the biotic pressure of human population that is

destroying our natural heritage. In addition, the rights of people on these reserves are still

unrecorded.

It seems that relocation is not being carried out properly, for in a village at Ranthambore,

the villagers complained that the relocated villages have a faced much more wretched

conditions than who continue to stay in the same place. Also the villagers located to the

fringe locations of the protected areas have been found to having been given land of poor

quality. Relocation has been a success in the Bhadra Tiger reserve in Karnataka but at the

cost of almost 4.02 lakh per family. All of these problems make the poor poorer, for the

forest is no longer source of sustenance and the tiger roams in reduced boundaries.

But saying this does not in any way rule out the option of relocation. It is important that

all the villages be realistically evaluated if relocation is required or not, evaluation of

village locations in critical areas, conservation priority areas and tiger pre natal areas,

evaluating if human resources would be as detrimental as it is being said to be, the

threshold value till which it could be allowed etc needs to be assessed. Alternatives for

fodder, fuel etc need to be found for people inhabiting protected areas. But proper

enforcement of these measures is imperative.

4. Living on the fringe

While the problems of people inside our protected areas exacerbate, the country remains

ignorant of the situation of many more who live on the fringes of these national parks and

sanctuaries. Conservation faces the challenge of working with people inside as well as with

communities on the fringe.

There are four categories of forest cover in the reserve:

o Zone 1: In areas within the tiger reserve, far from Habitations



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o Zone 2: In the 2-km buffer stretching inwards from the reserves periphery

o Zone 3: In a 2-km area radiating from the villages inside

o

Zone 4: In a 5-km area extending outwards from the park periphery

There are two issues worth understanding here:

1. The sheer number of people on the fringe is greater than the few who live inside

the park.

2. The villages on the fringe are connected to markets far beyond the vicinity of the

park and have the resources to transfer forest produce to these markets. Therefore,

what they extract from the forest is far more than what they need for immediate

personal consumption; in the case of villages inside, this is often not possible.

There is little reliable information on the number of villages at the periphery of reserves; in

particular, information that details their resource use patterns and the consequent impact on

the park. But what is available shows that in many parks, the number of villages within is

fewer than those at its periphery. In other words, here is a problem that demands different

strategies of coexistence.

Thus, it is clear that, given the high dependence of people on the last remaining forests,

human activities will impinge on the quality of the habitat. The question is to understand the

nature of the intervention and what can be done to mitigate or substitute its impact. The

landscape immediately outside is under intense use, with people living in an agro-silvo-

pastoral economy. They need access to grasslands for their livestock. They need income

sources that come from the forest: firewood and sale of minor forest produce. They needconstruction material and medicinal plants from the forests. Their drinking water and their

sources of irrigation water come from the forest.

The problem is two-fold:

The productivity of the forest, and land surrounding fringe settlements, has

declined over the years. It has been overused and has seen little management or

investment.



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Investment made in development irrigation, rural development, drinking water

or tribal affairs has not worked as it should have. Money and programmes have

been spent on the welfare of fringe villagers, but their poverty has only beenexacerbated.

The India Ecodevelopment Project had the following basic objectives:

1. Improve protected areas management: This was to be done to strengthen forest

department capacities and increase peoples participation in park management.

2. Village ecodevelopment: This was aimed at reducing negative impacts of local

people living in national parks and vice versa. This asked for participatory

microplanning of activities at the village level, to help villages and the forest

department decide on a set of reciprocal promises. The forest department would

provide alternative livelihoods and the people would commit to help the department in

better managing and protecting the forest. Ecodevelopment also meant so-called

special programmes, including the option of voluntary relocation and other

investments to benefit people and biodiversity.3. Generate support for park management and ecodevelopment: The project also

focussed on environmental education and visitor management at the parks. More

importantly, it promised funds for impact monitoring and goal- oriented ecological and

social science research.

Clearly, if the basic idea of joint forest management has been reciprocity, the only way

it can work is to create a contract that is legally binding where people can then argue to

get what the forest department has promised against them promising to do certain

activities beneficial to the forests. Without the forests outside, the fate of the tigers

cannot be secured.

5. The issues with tourism



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The Indian tiger is a tourism attraction. But tourism is both an opportunity and threat for

the tiger. Tourism is an important economic activity. It is also an important educational

activity. It can link tigers to a wider constituency and build conservation support for it. It

can also bring monetary and employment benefits to local people and secure their interest

in the tigers future. But done badly, it can lead to further stress on the tigers habitat. It

can destroy the surrounding are by overusing resources such as water and put municipal

services like garbage disposal and sewage under stress. It can also lead to the alienation of

local people, who see the benefits of this economic activity exported out of their region.

The issue, then, is how tourism can be shaped so that it brings benefits to the tiger, its

habitat and to the people who share this space. Today, tiger reserves are important tourist

destinations and the more prominent ones attract substantial numbers of visitors.



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There is no regulation currently to control the growth of these tourist facilities. The

problem is as follows:

a. The hotels and resorts operate without any building code of environmental standards.

These combine to put pressure on the already stressed ecology using water, disposing

waste and garbage. In many cases the hotels have been built on grazing lands of villagers,

which further puts stress on their livestock and, in turn, pressure on the resources of the

reserves.

b. The hotels and resorts do not contribute to the local economy, effectively doing little to

take the pressure off the peoples need to use the resources of the reserves. Even if some

employment is provided, in most cases the largest benefit of revenues is exported out of

the local environment. It does little for conservation, even though the business is based on

conservation.

c. The problem is that this furthers the sense of injustice and alienation of local people as

they see rich tourists entering areas they are not allowed into. And they see rich hoteliers

make money that they cant.

d. There is no control on the number of hotels and resorts that are coming up around the

reserves and, therefore, if the growth exceeds the carrying capacity of the reserve, there is

pressure to open out the larger areas of the reserve for tourism or there is more pressure

on the existing areas,

which, in turn, is detrimental to wild animals. This is what is happening in Ranthambhore,

for instance.

Therefore the development of tourism in Tiger Reserves needs to be carefully planned

and carried out, for tourism has extremely high potential to generate revenues for the

reserves, therefore helping in saving the tiger.



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5 The Future

5.1 How Do We Improve The Future For Tigers ?

It is clear that much more needs to be done to invest in the capacity and facilities provided for

protection and management of tiger reserves. However, it is equally clear that there are no single

answers to the problems of the reserves. Some of the major causes for concerns and

recommendations to obliterate those concerns are presented below:

1. The reserves that have received the most financial investment have not necessarily fared as

the best managed or protected reserves in the country. Funds or infrastructure is not the only

determinant for success. In fact, these resources can be counter-productive if the strategy for

management is not well considered and operationalised. For instance, Sariska and

Ranthambhore, both in Rajasthan, where the tiger has been reported to be under severe threat

of extinction, have received the heaviest investments for developing protection infrastructure.

It is important to address this issue. India, being a poor country with many competing

priorities, funds will always be scarce here for any given activity. The fact that the heavy

investments made in these reserves have not yielded fruits needs to be highlighted, so that

strategies that are indeed effective can be adopted.

Recommendation:Each reserve must have a specific and detailed strategy for protection. The

independent monitoring of the reserve must include an assessment of the enforcement

mechanisms in place and the patrolling efforts of field staff, so that policy interventions can be

designed. The Task Force does not recommend the need for armed forces as the most appropriate

for protection. In fact, it finds that intervention of armed personnel in protection of reserves is not

necessarily the most appropriate response. Project Tiger has provisions for providing central

funding support to deploy armed personnel from central reserve police and state police. But this

experience, in many cases, has not been useful because of the unfamiliar terrain and

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2. The reserves in the northeastern part of the country, which are inaccessible and occupy vast

areas: Manas, 2,840 sq km; Nameri, 1,206 sq km; and Namdapha, 1,985 sq km. The reserves

in the naxalite-hit areas, which are simply out of bounds for the forest protection forces.

These are also large Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam is the largest reserve in the country with an

area of 3,568 sq km. Indravati sprawls over 2,799 sq km, and Palamau and Valmiki over 800

sq km each. Again, sanctioning more staff will not work here, because they simply cannot be

deployed.

Recommendation: There should be a clear strategy for protection in the north eastern reserves,

where local people will be the only ones capable of traversing and protecting the area. There

should also be a strategy for the reserves controlled by naxalites, where armed intervention by the

police might be the only option. In other cases, armed protection is not necessarily the solution.

The answer will be in the deployment and internal management to make the most effective use of

existing resources and infrastructure for protection.

3. There is no indicator by which it can be determined that the number of staff in any reserve is

adequate for its protection and management. In a country as vast as India, the area that is

patrolled by each staff, even in the best of circumstances as in Buxa tiger reserve is 3

sq km, or 300 hectares. The average in the country is as high as 15.35 sq km, particularly

because of the vastness of the northeast region and its inaccessibility. Even after removing

these extremes, each guard is required to patrol 13.54 sq km (1,300 hectares).

Recommendation: Further recruitment of staff foresters as well as guards must be

reserved, as far as possible, for local villagers. The villagers located within the reserve(who are

not being relocated) or the villagers who have been relocated outside the reserve must get

preferential jobs in the reserves. This will provide local people with a positive stake in the

protection of reserves. There should be direct recruitment and training provided for the recruits.

The criterion for recruitment should be amended so that it relaxes the formal educational

qualifications needed for this position and instead values skills in jungle craft. In addition, there

should be provision for in-service training for locally recruited staff.

4. The ability and capacity of the staff is an important consideration. As far as this is

concerned, most reserves are in the same boat. The average age in the country for guards is



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42 years, for foresters, 46 years and for rangers, 47 years. But there are cases of concern in

Palamau the average age of guards is 53 and in Simlipal it is 49 years. The problem here is

that states are cash-strapped and are downsizing staff. In the most recent cases of recruitment,

the effort has been to re-deploy persons from other services, which leads to even more

problems, or to hire temporary staff. As far as training for foresters and guards is concerned,

the situation is far from satisfactory in most reserves.

Recommendation:Training must be institutionalised so that each reserve has skilled and

committed personnel.

5. The other key determinant seems to be the presence and deployment of camps within the

reserves. It is clear that the reserves that seem to have made the best use of their camps by

increasing their numbers and locating them in vulnerable areas are the most successful.

But having a camp is not enough; it is also important that the camp is used and this requires

the internal management systems of the reserve to be tight and effective.

The other problem is that camps in many reserves lack basic facilities of water or buildings.

Without this, it is difficult for the guards to be posted for longer durations, weakening protection.

Therefore, this is clearly an area that needs investment. Another issue that has been raised in

meetings with the guards is the need for free rations, so that they can avoid a trip to the market,

which is often too far. This small expense would save them time and boost their morale. The

situation of the field staff, particularly guards, in tiger reserves and other protected areas needs to

be considered in terms of facilities for their families. Currently, this category of staff lives within

the reserves in protection camps whereas their families live in the staff quarters of the reserve and

lack basic facilities such as schools for their children.

Recommendation: There is a need to invest in basic facilities for the frontline staff. The three

key facilities that are required are:

a. Housing camps in neighbouring district towns, usually where the project headquarters

is based, for families so that the education of their children can be secured.



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b. Free rations for guards living in the camps. This practice is followed by many

protection forces and helps in their work.

c. Each reserve must create a staff welfare fund out of the income from tourism, which

can be used to supplement medical and other benefits for the staff.

6. These incentives must come with responsibility. Currently, the special allowance, which is

paid to staff within tiger reserves is taken for granted, as it becomes part of the pay package.

It does not lead necessarily to better performances.

Recommendation: Even as there is investment in basic facilities and incentives, there must be

disincentives and rewards built into the system, based on independent monitoring. For instance,

the provision for free ration and special allowance must be withdrawn in reserves that score low

on the rating chart. This should be done with complete transparency so that it is not seen as

political or discriminatory. In fact, this move will be a test for the independence and rigour of the

independent assessment as well.

7. The issue of personnel in reserves needs a broader assessment as it concerns the state of

forest-related services across the country. The assessment of this Task Force is that this

service is facing key challenges that need urgent redressal. The concerns are:-

a. The number of rangers being trained in the country is virtually down to zero. In other

words, over the coming years, there will be fewer trained personnel available in this sector.

b. The salary payments for state-level staff are in complete disarray in many areas

people do not get paid often for months on end. This situation cannot lead to high morale and

effective working in the field.

c. Then, even more seriously, reviews for staff have been waiting for years in many

cases. The situation is so bad that a person entering a service at a particular level is likely to retire

at the same rank. This is a clear failure of the administrators and has to be dealt with

immediately.



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Recommendation:All the above recommendations will provide temporary relief unless there

is a review of the crisis in forestry services and steps are taken to address issues of training,

personnel development, staff reviews and salaries. This is necessary and urgent.

5.2 International Poaching Ban

It is clear that unless international trade in tiger parts is checked, there will be growing pressure

on the tigers of India. The tigers of India are one of the last remaining populations of the big cats

in south and southeast Asia. Therefore, there is bound to be demand which leads to illegal

poaching. Over the last several years, the efforts of the international community to ban trade in

tiger products, however important, has only meant that the trade has gone more underground and

has become more difficult to detect. It is, therefore, very important for India to take proactive and

strong measures on the matter of international trade in wildlife. It must do the following:

a. It must take up this issue with the international community through CITES (Convention on

International Trade in Endangered Species). The Ministry must be very proactive to shape

the agenda at CITES to ensure that the international market for tiger products are investigated. It

is not enough for the international community to ask India to strengthen its own domesticwildlife enforcement. This is very important and it must be done. But this strengthened domestic

policing will not be enough to check the trade in tiger parts. The international community must

be under pressure to combat and destroy this trade.

b. India must work to build its bilateral relationships with China in this regard. The Global Tiger

Forum, which was set up to network and dialogue with tiger range countries, has clearly proved

to be inadequate. In fact, it has become irrelevant, especially as China has still not joined theforum. India must disengage itself from institutions that are not working and find strategies of

engaging with China.

.

c. It must be done bilaterally. It knows that both governments are extremely concerned about

issues related to tiger part trade. Therefore, the Union environment minister should take the lead

in this regard by discussing and developing a bilateral relationship with his counterpart in China,

and that this dialogue must be kept alive and ongoing. It is critical that India takes the leadership



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on this issue and does not leave it to global institutions, which are proving inadequate in this

regard.

In addition, there is a need of a setup of a strong wild life bureau to control the poaching

activities:

a. At the central level, a stronger bureau should be set up with the capacity to develop a

country-wide database of wildlife crime to enable coordination, to be able to pursue important

cases at the state level and follow up with investigative agencies like the Central Bureau of

Investigation (CBI), on the investigation as well as the conviction of large organised crime

networks.

b. The CBI must be given certain tasks in investigating wildlife crime. The role of the

CBI will be to work closely with the wildlife crime bureau so that it can find synergies in

combating crime.

c. There is a need to involve and to train other police agencies, such as the Indo-Tibetan

Border Police, as well as the other security forces, to ensure greater vigilance on our borders as

well.

d. Forensic cells should be set up in central, regional and state forensic laboratories to

investigate wildlife specimens and produce evidence in wildlife crime.

e. The wildlife crime bureau must be made into a statutory body under the Wildlife

(Protection) Act, 1972 to make it effective and give it autonomy.

It will not be enough to only investigate the crimes: criminals must be convicted. So far as its

criminal provisions are concerned it is very clear that there is a need to strengthen Wildlife

(Protection) Act, 1972, particularly for what are designated critically endangered species, so that

there is a greater deterrence for criminal actions against these species resulting in speedier trials.

The current Act is weak in this regard and, therefore, in the majority of cases it leads to delayed



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hearings and a dismal state of therate of convictions. There is an immediate need for amendment

of the current Act and for stricter laws in place to enforce the protection of tigers.



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6 Conclusion

No report per se brings change. It is people, who believe in the report and its ideas, who are the

change-makers. We hope our report will find believers as well. We hope that the agenda for tiger

conservation will be secured, so that the future of the tiger can be secured. It will need

seriousness. It will need commitment. But it can be done. Heres are optimists signing off.

A Report On The Past, Present and Future of Tigers In India

1411 tigers project

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