• International Tiger Day is marked on July 29 with an aim to promote a global system for protecting the natural habitats of tigers and to raise public awareness and support for tiger conservation issues.

• International Tiger Day was created in 2010 at the St Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia when all 13 tiger range countries came together for the first time and decided that business-as-usual approaches were not working. They committed to the most ambitious conservation goal set for a single species — to double the number of wild tigers by 2022.

• On the occasion of International Tiger Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated India’s commitment to ensuring safe habitats for its tigers and nurturing tiger-friendly eco systems.

• PM Modi noted that India is home to over 70 per cent of the tiger population globally.

• There are 51 tiger reserves spread across 18 states and the last tiger census of 2018 showed a rise in the tiger population in India.

• Modi also pointed out that India achieved the target of doubling of tiger population four years ahead of schedule of the St. Petersburg Declaration on tiger conservation.

Project Tiger

• The Union government has taken a pioneering initiative for conserving tigers by launching the Project Tiger in 1973.

• Project Tiger is an ongoing centrally sponsored scheme of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change providing central assistance to the tiger states for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves.

• From nine tiger reserves since its formative years, the Project Tiger coverage has increased to 51 at present, spread out in 18 tiger range states.

• The tiger reserves are constituted on a core / buffer strategy. The core areas have the legal status of a national park or a sanctuary, whereas the buffer or peripheral areas are a mix of forest and non-forest land, managed as a multiple use area.

• Project Tiger aims to foster an exclusive tiger agenda in the core areas of tiger reserves, with an inclusive people oriented agenda in the buffer.

• The NTCA is a statutory body of the ministry, with an overarching supervisory / coordination role, performing functions as provided in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. 

• In 2006, the tiger population in India was 1,411. India’s tiger population has grown to 2,967 in 2018.

• The All India Tiger Estimation in 2018 was awarded the Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest wildlife camera trap survey involving 26,838 camera trap locations capturing 76,651 photographs of tigers.

• According to the survey, Madhya Pradesh got the coveted ‘tiger state’ tag with 526 tigers. Karnataka is a close second with 524 tigers, followed by Uttarakhand with 442.

Tiger reserves in India

1) Bandipur – Karnataka

2) Corbett – Uttarakhand

3) Kanha – Madhya Pradesh

4) Manas – Assam

5) Melghat – Maharashtra

6) Palamau – Jharkhand

7) Ranthambore – Rajasthan

8) Simlipal – Odisha

9) Sunderban – West Bengal

10) Periyar – Kerala

11) Sariska – Rajasthan

12) Buxa – West Bengal

13) Indravati – Chhattisgarh

14) Namdapha – Arunachal Pradesh

15) Nagarjuna Sagar – Andhra Pradesh

16) Dudhwa – Uttar Pradesh

17) Kalakad Mundanthurai – Tamil Nadu

18) Valmiki – Bihar

19) Pench – Madhya Pradesh

20) Tadobha Andhari –  Maharashtra

21) Bandhavgarh – Madhya Pradesh

22) Panna – Madhya Pradesh

23) Dampa – Mizoram

24) Bhadra – Karnataka

25) Pench – Maharashtra

26) Pakke – Arunachal Pradesh

27) Nameri – Assam

28) Satpura – Madhya Pradesh

29) Anamalai – Tamil Nadu

30) Udanti Sitanadi – Chhattisgarh

31) Satkosia – Odisha

32) Kaziranga – Assam

33) Achanakmar – Chhattisgarh

34) Kali – Karnataka

35) Sanjay Dhubri – Madhya Pradesh

36) Mudumalai – Tamil Nadu

37) Nagarhole – Karnataka

38) Parambikulam – Kerala

39) Sahyadri – Maharashtra

40) Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple – Karnataka

41) Kawal – Telangana

42) Sathyamangalam – Tamil Nadu

43) Mukundara –  Rajasthan

44) Nawegaon Nagzira – Maharashtra

45) Amrabad – Telangana

46) Pilibhit – Uttar Pradesh

47) Bor – Maharashtra

48) Rajaji – Uttarakhand

49) Orang – Assam

50) Kamlang – Arunachal Pradesh

51) Srivilliputhur Megamalai – Tamil Nadu.

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