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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 156
TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.07.2026
Tiger and Elephant Population
156. SMT. JUNE MALIAH:
Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:
(a) the latest population of tigers and elephants in the country;
(b) whether there has been any increase or decline in their population during the last three years;
(c) the number of deaths of tigers and elephants due to poaching, train accidents and electrocution
during the said period; and
(d) the measures taken by the Government to prevent such death?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE
CHANGE
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)
(a) & (b) The tiger population has increased as per the All India Tiger Estimation done in 2022,
with an estimated number of 3682 (range 3167-3925) as compared to the 2018 estimation of 2967
(range 2603-3346) and the details are at Annexure-I.
The State-wise details of wild elephants in the country, as per the latest “Status of Elephants in India:
DNA-Based Synchronous All India Population Estimation (SAIEE) 2022-25” is provided in
Annexure-II. This nationwide estimate uses DNA-based mark–recapture for the first time in India.
Given the methodological changes, it is not comparable to past figures and may be treated as a new
monitoring baseline for further research, monitoring and estimation.
(c) As reported by States, the details of tiger deaths during last three years, are as under:-
Causes Tiger
2023 2024 2025
Poaching 39 25 17
(confirmed cases till date as
per investigation)
Train Accidents 2 3 2
Electrocution 16 4 4
As reported by States, the details of elephant deaths during last three years, are as under:-
Causes Elephant
2023-24 2024-25 2025-26
Poaching 10 18 10
Train Accidents 17 12 22Electrocution 94 104 80
(d) The steps taken by the Government of India through the National Tiger Conservation
Authority (NTCA) for the conservation and protection of tigers, inter alia, include measures like
providing funding assistance to States under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme Project Tiger &
Elephant for habitat protection, infrastructure, anti-poaching operations, deployment of Tiger
Protection Forces (TPF/STPF); strict vigilance & surveillance, antipoaching operations and
intelligence gathering, technological interventions, community involvement through eco-development
activities, monitoring through gadgets like camera traps etc.; putting in place security plan, executing
security audit besides using patrolling and ecological status revealing application viz. M-STrIPES
(Monitoring System for Tigers Intensive-Protection & Ecological Status) and having bilateral
collaboration with neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh in the matters of
poaching and seizure of derivatives of tiger etc.
In addition, Ministry has taken the various measures to prevent elephant deaths, which inter alia,
include providing financial and technical assistance to States/UTs under the Centrally Sponsored
Scheme of Project Tiger & Elephant for elephant conservation, habitat protection, conflict mitigation,
ex-gratia payment in cases of human death in order to prevent conflict situations, strict vigilance and
surveillance in elephant abundant areas. Besides, in order to avoid accidents due to train hit, the
Ministry has identified 77 priority railway stretches and recommended 705 mitigation structures
which have been shared with the Railways and States for implementation besides constituting a
permanent co-ordination committee with the Ministry of Railways apart from having regular inter-
ministerial meeting with the Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Power and organizing regular
capacity building programmes for Railway, Power and Forest officials.
*****Annexure-I
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF THE LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 156 ON TIGER AND ELEPHANT POPULATION DUE FOR
REPLY ON 20/07/2026
Details of tiger estimation pertaining to tiger landscapes in the country, for the years 2018 and
2022 (As per All India Tiger Estimation Reports)
State Tiger Population
2018 2022
Shivalik-Gangetic Plain Landscape Complex
Uttarakhand 442 560
Uttar Pradesh 173 205
Bihar 31 54
Shivalik Gangetic 646 819
Central Indian Landscape Complex and Eastern Ghats Landscape Complex
Andhra Pradesh 48 63
Telangana 26 21
Chhattisgarh 19 17
Madhya Pradesh 526 785
Maharashtra 312 444
Odisha 28 20
Rajasthan 69 88
Jharkhand 5 1
Central India 1033 1439
Western Ghats Landscape Complex
Karnataka 524 563
Kerala 190 213
Tamil Nadu 264 306
Goa 3 5
Western Ghats 981 1087
North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra Flood Plains
Assam 190 229
Arunachal Pradesh 29 9
Mizoram 0 0
Nagaland 0 0
Northern West Bengal 0 2
North East Hills, and 219 236
Brahmaputra
Sunderbans 88 101
TOTAL 2967 3682
*****Annexure-II
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF THE LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 156 ON TIGER AND ELEPHANT POPULATION DUE FOR
REPLY ON 20/07/2026
State-wise wild elephants in the country as per the report “Status of Elephants in India: DNA
Based Synchronous All India Population Estimation of Elephants (SAIEE)”
Sl. Lower Upper 95%
State/Landscape Population SE **
No. 95% CI* CI
1. Karnataka 6,013 623 4,792 7,235
2. Tamil Nadu 3,136 229 2,688 3,585
3. Kerala 2,785 208 2,378 3,193
4. Jharkhand 217 35 149 286
5. Odisha 912 170 579 1,246
6. Madhya Pradesh 97 19 60 135
7. Chhattisgarh 451 79 297 606
8. Maharashtra (Western Ghats & Gadchiroli) 63 8 48 79
9. West Bengal (South) 31 5 22 41
10. Andhra Pradesh 120 9 103 138
11. Uttarakhand 1,792 148 1,502 2,083
12. Uttar Pradesh 257 37 103 330
13. Bihar 13 NA NA NA
14. Arunachal Pradesh 617 32 555 680
15. Assam 4,159 390 3,395 4,924
16. Manipur 9 1 8 11
17. Meghalaya 677 47 585 770
18. Mizoram 16 1 13 18
19. Nagaland 252 23 207 298
20. Tripura 153 7 140 167
21. West Bengal (North) 676 69 541 812
Total 22,446 2,140 18,255 26,645
*CI : Confidence Interval
** SE : Standard Error
*****