In some good news for the country, the tiger population has risen by 30 per cent to 2,226 against the last estimate of 1,706, Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said on Tuesday. Javadekar said this increase in tiger population from 1,706 in 2010 to an estimated 2,226 in 2014, has been achieved due to streamlining of the tiger conservation initiative along with effective forest management and community participation.

This increase of over 30 per cent was seen in the third round of tiger census in the country. The Govt had undertaken several measures, such as Special Tiger Protection Force, Special Programme for Orphan Tiger cubs, efforts to control poaching and initiatives to minimise human-animal conflict and encroachment, in order to protect the country’s national animal.

Since 2010, the Bengal Tiger, primarily found in India, with smaller populations in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, had been classified as ‘endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2010, when its numbers were found to be dwindling in the wild. In 2006, the tiger population in the country was estimated to be as low as 1,411.

“A total of 3,78,118 square km of forest area in 18 tiger States was surveyed, with total of 1,540 unique tiger photo captures. As per the survey, tiger population has increased in Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala,” the Ministry of Environment and Forests said.

The evaluation of tiger reserves has also shown an improvement for 43 tiger reserves.

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