Worried about the  sharp decrease in the tiger population,  Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has asked the chief ministers to take “urgent steps” in improving  tiger reserves and recruit forest staff on a “priority” basis.

Dr Singh’s concerns probably rise from an estimate by the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, which has pegged the national tiger count between 1300 and 1500 – a drop of more than 50 per cent, when compared to the 2001-02 tiger census.

The last census came out with a tiger count of 3642 – marginally higher than the 1997 count of 3508.

Since the inception of Project Tiger, the tiger estimates were the highest in 1989, with a count of 4334.

Though the new alarming figures have not yet been made public, it was mentioned in the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the National Board of Wildlife.

One of the board members and tiger conservationist Valmik Thapar disclosed the numbers at a meeting of the NGOs here earlier this week.

In May, the Wildlife Institute of India, which is carrying a scientific tiger census for the first time, stated that the four key tiger bearing states Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan housed only 417 tigers.

The last census carried out in 2001-02 showed a count of 1233 in these four states.

In fact, suspicion on the big cat estimates provided by the states, coupled with the Sariska controversy, forced the Centre to launch the Wildlife Institute of India study, rather than depending on the states for providing an accurate estimate.

Few forest guards
Absence of adequate forest guards is being considered as one of the reasons behind a rise in poaching.

After a review of the implementation of the Tiger Task Force Report, the Prime Minister advised the chief ministers to fill up a large number of vacancies  available at the earliest.

Asking the chief ministers to consider the tiger reserves as “autonomous profit centres” the Prime Minister has also suggested creation of a “development fund” in each reserve, which would have contribution from the gate receipts and government assistance for betterment of the reserves.

Creation of a “development agency” in each tiger reserve under the field directorate with independent experts has been mooted for improving local participation in tiger reserve management.

The enabling provisions for constituting these agencies have been incorporated  in the new amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act.