Bhupender Yadav chairs 29th meeting of National Tiger Conservation Authority

• Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav chaired the 29th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority at the Central Academy for State Forest Service (CASFOS), Coimbatore on July 9.

• During the meeting, the minister released two important NTCA publications.

• The first report is ‘Roadmap to Rescue: Strategic Roadmap for Establishment of Temporary/Transit Facilities for Rescue-Rehab-Release of Wild Animals in Tiger Landscapes’.

• It focuses on a scientific and strategic framework to strengthen wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and safe release across India's tiger landscapes.

• The roadmap will enhance preparedness for emerging conservation challenges and human-wildlife interactions.

• The second report is titled ‘STRIDES 2026: Status of Tiger Reserves — Infrastructure, Development, Ecology & Social Parameters’.

• It details a comprehensive assessment of conservation and management interventions across India’s tiger reserves.

• The report will support evidence-based planning, adaptive management and informed decision-making for strengthening tiger conservation.

• The meeting also saw deliberations on key policy, management and institutional issues relating to tiger conservation and wildlife management in the country.

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

• It was constituted in 2006 under an amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. 

• The NTCA brought a new era of standardised management, scientific oversight, and accountability to tiger conservation. 

• It was empowered to ensure effective implementation of Project Tiger guidelines, monitor reserves, allocate funding, and coordinate with states and central agencies.

• NTCA has been fulfilling its mandate within the ambit of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 for strengthening tiger conservation in the country by retaining an oversight through advisories/normative guidelines, based on appraisal of tiger status, ongoing conservation initiatives and recommendations of specially constituted Committees.

• NTCA extends financial support through the ‘Project Tiger’ initiative to 58 Tiger Reserves spanning 18 range states in the country along with provision for assisting tiger inhabited forests. 

• The Union Environment Minister is the chairperson of NTCA.

The objectives of NTCA are:

i) Providing statutory authority to Project Tiger so that compliance of its directives becomes legal.

ii) Fostering accountability of Center-state in management of tiger reserves, by providing a basis for MoU with states within our federal structure.

iii) Providing for an oversight by Parliament.

iv) Addressing livelihood interests of local people in areas surrounding tiger reserves.