50 years of Project Tiger: How India rescued its national animal from the brink

Project Tiger, one of the world's biggest large animal conservation projects, enters its 50th year Sunday, April 9. To mark the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the latest tiger numbers in India on the day. Project Tiger began in 1973 with the aim of saving India's national animal from extinction. In the early years of India's independence, noctural hunters thrived, which in turn had severely hurt India's big cat population. In the last five decades, India has made significant strides in protecting its tigers. India, now, approximately makes up for 70% of the world's tiger population.   

Prime Minister Modi will be in Karnataka's Mysuru to release the latest tiger census data and mark India's renewed focus on tiger conservation during the country's 'Amrit Kaal', the big celebration observing 75 years of India's independence. The PM is also expected to share the central government's vision and future plans for tiger conversation. 

Project Tiger turns 50

In 1973, Project Tiger was flagged off by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In an effort to promote conservation and revive the declining tiger population in India, the government launched ‘Project Tiger’ on April 1, 1973, to bring back the existing population of the species which was on the verge of extinction. Notably, Project Tiger has been the largest species conservation initiative of its kind in the world. Started with just 9, the project now covers 53 tiger reserves. 

According to National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the focus areas of ‘Project Tiger’ is: 

• Strengthening efforts towards the protection of tigers, checking poaching, convicting wildlife criminals and breaking the international trade network in wildlife body parts and derivatives.

• Expanding the undisturbed areas for tigers by reducing human pressure.

• Repairing the relationship with local people who share the tigers' habitat by fielding strategies for coexistence.

• Regenerate the forest habitats in the fringes of the tigers' protective enclaves by investing in the forest, water and grassland economies of the people.

How India counts its tiger?

Calculating the number of tigers present in a forest or wildlife area is not an easy task. When it started in 1973, the forest staff used butter paper to track the big cat through their footprints, as just like humans, tigers also have a unique and individual footprint. However, this was not a method that could provide 100% foolproof results as the footprints of a tiger might differ according to their position. 

Following the inconsistency in the method, the forest staff started using the capture-mark-and-recapture method over the years. The method helps estimate the tiger population based on a sample through the use of camera trap surveys. The technique involves using a camera trapping methodology to take photographs of an individual tiger based on its distinctive pelage patterns as it can help the enumerator to uniquely identify the tiger.