Parliament Question: Increase in tiger deaths

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3104 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2026 Increase in tiger deaths

3104. SMT. SAGARIKA GHOSE:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

(a) whether Government is aware that a significant proportion of tiger deaths in India between 2021 and 2025 have occurred outside protected reserves and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the year-wise number of such cases linked to incidents of human-wildlife conflict since 2020;

(c) the year-wise number of human fatalities reported in connection with these incidents;

(d) the measures undertaken, especially in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, which show highest number of tiger deaths outside protected areas; and

(e) the delineation of responsibilities and jurisdiction between the State Governments and the Central Government with regard to the Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves project? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) & (b) Due to positive interventions and effective implementation of Project Tiger Scheme in tiger reserves, tiger population in the country has increased both in and around tiger reserves.

Consequently, the death of the tigers have been reported more corresponding to the growing tiger population in and outside the tiger reserves. As reported by the States, the details of tiger

deaths occurred outside tiger reserves are as under:- Year Natural Unnatural / Poaching Under Scrutiny 2020 15 17 7 2021 14 24 28 2022 9 19 24 2023 28 31 40 2024 13 13 40 2025 4 2 84

(c) As reported by the States, the details of human deaths due to human-tiger conflict issues since 2020 to 2025 is as under:

S. State 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 No.

1 Andhra Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Assam 0 0 0 0 3 04 Bihar 1 4 9 1 2 4 5 Chhattisgarh 0 0 0 3 0 1 6 Jharkhand 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 Karnataka 0 1 1 8 2 0 8 Kerala 2 0 0 2 0 3 9 Madhya Pradesh 11 2 3 10 6 9 10 Maharashtra 25 54 80 37 41 48 11 Mizoram 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 Orissa 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 Rajasthan 0 0 0 0 0 3 14 Tamil Nadu 1 3 0 1 0 0 15 Telangana 2 0 0 0 1 0 16 Uttar Pradesh 4 11 11 25 10 6 17 Uttarakhand 0 1 3 0 5 2 18 West Bengal 5 5 1 1 1 0 TOTAL 51 81 108 88 71 76

(d) The Government of India, through the National Tiger Conservation Authority, has issued a three pronged strategy to deal with conflict in tiger range States including Madhya Pradesh and

Maharashtra which is as below:

(i) Material and logistical support: Funding support through the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger, is provided to tiger reserves for acquiring capacity in terms of infrastructure and material, to deal with tigers dispersing out of source areas.

These are solicited by tiger reserves through an Annual Plan of Operation (APO) every year which stems out from an overarching Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP), mandated under

Section 38 V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Inter alia, activities such as payment of ex-gratia and compensation, periodic awareness campaigns to sensitize, guide and advise the general populace on man-animal conflict, dissemination of information through various forms of media, procurement of immobilization equipment, drugs, training and capacity building of forest staff to deal with conflict events are generally solicited.

(ii) Restricting habitat interventions: Based on the carrying capacity of tigers in a tiger reserve, habitat interventions are restricted through an overarching TCP. In case tiger numbers are at carrying capacity levels, it is advised that habitat interventions should be limited so that there is no excessive spill over of wildlife including tigers thereby minimizing man-animal conflict. Further, in buffer areas around tiger reserves, habitat interventions are restricted such that they are sub-optimal vis-à-vis the core/critical tiger habitat areas, judicious enough to facilitate dispersal to other rich habitat areas only.

(iii) Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs): The National Tiger Conservation Authority has issued following three SOPs to deal with human-animal conflict, which are available in

public domain: i. To deal with emergency arising due to straying of tigers in human dominated landscapes ii. To deal with tiger depredation on livestock iii. For active management towards rehabilitation of tigers from source areas at the landscape level.

The three SOPs inter alia include the issue of managing dispersing tigers, managing livestock kills so as to reduce conflict as well as relocating tigers from source areas to areas where density of tiger is low, so that conflict in rich source areas does not occur.Also as per Tiger Conservation Plans, need based and site-specific management interventions are undertaken by the tiger reserves for improving the quality of wildlife habitat and funding support for these activities is provided under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats.

(e) Based on scientific data collected from the 5th cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation exercise as well as data of human-wildlife conflict collated from the States, the National Tiger Conservation Authority has formulated a project for management of Tigers outside Tiger Reserves, which is a preventive and mitigative strategy to deal with human-wildlife conflicts. For the project, technical and financial support is provided by the Government of India through National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (National- CAMPA) and the project is implemented by the State Government(s).

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