50 years of Project tiger

• Project Tiger was launched in the year 1973 to protect Tigers in India.
• It is a centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) providing central assistance to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves.

About NTCA

• National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is its implementing authority established in 2005 under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• It has overarching supervisory/coordination role and approves the Tiger Conservation Plan prepared by the State Governments.
• NTCA consists of the Minister in charge of the MoEFCC (as Chairperson), the Minister of State in the MoEFCC (as Vice-Chairperson), 3 MPs, Secretary, MoEFCC.
• A Success story
  • With a current population of about 3,000 tigers, India is home to more than 70% of the global tiger population.
  • While Project Tiger initially covered 9 tiger reserves, India now has 53 reserves covering approximately 4% of the country’s geographical area.
  • India achieved a doubling of tiger population in 2018, 4 years ahead of the targeted year 2022.

Protection status for Tiger

• IUCN red list categorises – Endangered
• Appendix I of CITES

Included in Schedule I and Schedule IV of Wildlife Protection Act