Rajasthan’s Fifth Tiger Reserve in Dholpur-Karauli And India's 54th

The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change has accorded the final approval to Rajasthan’s fifth Tiger Reserve in Dholpur-Karauli. It is the country’s 54th tiger reserve. 

The Dholpur-Karauli Tiger Reserve has been accorded the final approval by NTCA (the National Tiger Conservation Authority). 

The ministry also gave in-principle approval to declare Kumbhalgarh as a tiger reserve in Rajasthan.

The other four tiger reserves in Rajasthan are – Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Sawai Madhopur, Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar, Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve in Kota and Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve in Bundi, which was added in May 2022.

Population of Tigers

• The number of tigers in India has increased from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,682 in 2022, an annual rise of 6 per cent, according to government data.
• With a 50 per cent increase in the last four years, Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number of tigers in the country (785), followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444).
• The number of tigers in Rajasthan has increased from 32 in 2006 to 88 in 2022.

Project Tiger

• The Govt. of India had launched “Project Tiger” on 1st April 1973 to promote conservation of the tiger. Project Tiger has been the largest species conservation initiative of its kind in the world. 
• While the field implementation of the project, protection and management in the designated reserves is done by the project States, who also provide the matching grant to recurring items of expenditure, deploy field staff/officers, and give their salaries, the Project Tiger Directorate of the Ministry of Environment and Forests was mandated with the task of providing technical guidance and funding support.
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has been constituted under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
  • The authority consists of the Minister in charge of the Ministry of Environment and Forests ( as Chairperson), the Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment and Forests (as Vice-Chairperson), three members of Parliament, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests and other members.
• On the basis of the recommendations of the National Board for Wild Life chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, a Task Force was set up to look into the problems of tiger conservation in the country. 
• The recommendations of the said Task Force, interalia include strengthening of Project Tiger by giving it statutory and administrative powers, apart from creating the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.