AVISIBLY happy Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi on Monday conveyed the good news that from the ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ the country has travelled to ‘Tiger Jinda Hai,’ drawing upon the Bollywood analogy to tell the country that tiger population has nearly doubled and that the country has emerged as one of the best tiger habitats in the world. It is indeed the success story of conservation that the country has scripted devoutly for the last few decades and ensured that once considered to be a highly endangered species in the wild begins to majestically roar again.
The credit for this goes to environmentally conscious people, political community and bureaucracy at all levels. They understood what it means to loosing a majestic wild species and took all the pains and efforts to protect their habitats and create healthy atmosphere for their procreation and conservation in natural environment. Tiger being at the top of food chain pyramid, it was essential that he not only survived but also breathed freely in his domain. It was during the regime of Mrs. Indira Gandhi that the first steps towards forest conservation and protection of tiger habitats were taken. It was since then that successive regimes at the Centre and in states have meticulously laid down norms for forest conservation, which formed the habitat of the big cat and other wild species and ensured their strict implementation.
Like the dwindling tiger population, forests too became the victim of modern age development and human need for more space for agriculture, industry and accommodating rapidly rising population. Thus it became an unhealthy race for space between man and animal with man holding the upper hand in encroaching upon the habitat of the wild animal. It is because of this conflict that it became very critical to save forests and habitats of the wildlife.
The creation of national parks, tiger sanctuaries all over the country as a way out is now paying rich dividends with forest department authorities following strict conservation norms and protecting these habitats from human interference as far as possible. That has ensured that there is healthy growth of tiger population as well as prey animals. What is heartening is that there is a healthy competition among various states in the country to win the coveted title of ‘Tiger State.’ Madhya Pradesh, with as many as 526 tigers has regained its position as the ‘Tiger State’ of the country which it had lost to Karnataka. Karnataka, with 524 tigers, is a close second this year followed by Uttarkhand and Maharashtra.
These four states form the bulk of the tiger population of the country. But other states too are contributing their own mite to the cause and are reporting healthy results. Along with other developments necessary for human population the Government has also ensured that there is increase in the protected areas. And the number continues to grow in a very healthy manner. But then the authorities have also to grapple with the problem of human settlements in and in the proximity of the national parks and tiger reserves and have now a well laid down policy to make them partners in the conservation movement and also shift them away from the protected forest areas.
Over the last decade and more tiger population has doubled. But as rightly said by Mr. Modi we should not rest on these laurels. In fact we have to speed up our conservation work and expand the protected areas. Mr. Modi said that development verses environmental protection debate is never ending. But the need is to strike a balance. Because environmental protection is as important as building infrastructure for human beings. The Prime Minister has very well said, we will construct more homes for the citizens as well as create quality habitats for animals.