Subject: Project tiger to be enlarged
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A new tiger reserve is going to be set up at Bhadra in Karnataka. This is
part of the government initiative to give a boost to
Project Tiger, 25 years after its inception. The ministry of environment
has decided to create six more tiger reserves during the
remaining period of the Ninth Five Year Plan. Another reserve will be
created at Pench in Maharashtra. Four other areas will be
identified in due course.

A three-day national workshop on 25 years of Project Tiger is going to
commence in the capital tomorrow. The workshop will
assess the impact of the project over the past quarter century and plan
strategies for the future.

The allocation of funds to Project Tiger has been doubled. As against an
allocation of Rs.8 crores during the year 1997-98, the
allocation of the year 1998-99 is Rs.17 crores.

The Centre has released a fund of Rs.24.190 lakhs towards Project Tiger for
 the state of Karnataka during 1997-98.

The Central government has allocated Rs.3.5 crore for diverting the
jaipur-Alwar Highway outside the Sariska tiger reserve.

TIGER RESERVES: The network of tiger reserves includes the high mountainous
 terrain of Arunachal Pradesh, the heavy rainfall
areas of Assam and West Bengal, the mangroves of Sunderbans, the dry
forests of Rajasthan, the foothills of the Himalayas in
Uttar praadesh and Bihar and the central Indian highlands of Madhya Pradesh
 and Maharashtra.

The network also includes the plateau of Chhota Nagpur in bihar, the hilly
tropical and evergreen forests of Orissa, the evergreen
forests of the Western Ghats in Kerala and Karnataka, the dry deciduous
forests of Andhra Pradesh and the deciduous forests of
Tamil Nadu.

The main thrust of the project is protection and reduction of harmful human
 impacts with a view to comprehensively revive the
natural ecosystems in the reserves. During the Ninth Plan, the major thrust
 would be to enlarge and diversify the activities and
consolidate the progress made under this scheme until now.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES: The activities under the scheme generate employment for
both regular personnel and daily wagers.
Apart from direct employment opportunities because of the effective
protection and conservation measures inside the reserves,
considerable indirect benefits, like arresting erosion, enrichment of the
water management therefore improving the water table,
provide indirect benefits to the animals and commuities in the
neighbourhood of the reserves.

                           BR Hills to be brought under Project Tiger

One more forest area in Karnataka is being brought under 'Project Tiger`.
Like the Bandipur National Park which is already
playing host to the project, the forests of Biligiriranga Hills or BR Hills
 are also situated in the new district of Chamarajanagar,
DHNS adds from Mysore.

Revealing this to the correspondent, the Forest Department officials said
the decks had been cleared for inclusion of BR Hills in
the project, which was established in nine tiger reserves of the country a
quarter century ago. The development follows a
preliminary visit to BR Hills in March, and another visit recently, by Mr
Ranjit Sinh, Director of Tiger Conservation Wing of the
World Wildlife Fund.

BR Hills was found suitable for getting benefited by Project Tiger as its
tigers, numbering 25, were facing danger of extinction,
according to a department spokesman. The justification for the area to be
brought under the project is to see if with human
intervention the number of big cats could increase. What clinched the issue
 in favour of BR Hills was also the fact that it is
surrounded by the forests of Talamalai and Madumalai thereby enhancing the
scope for building a tiger corridor.

Herbivore population in the area, as also availability of water in
abundance, also ruled favourably for BR Hills. The project would
bestow an initial grant of Rs.14 lakh on the area which would be spent
mostly on infrastructure development. There is no dearth of
manpower or vehicles, although the same cannot be said of the wireless
sets, a spokesman for the department revealed.

There were roughly 500 tigers in the wild when the project was launched in
1973-74 with the preponderant objective of conserving
the big cat. Since then there was a three-foldincrease in their numbers.
This is more than the threshold level needed, enough to
allay fears of the tiger becoming extinct.

MILITANT ACTIVITIES: Mid-eighties saw a marginal decline in the tiger
population, thanks to the blow dealt on conservation
efforts by a sudden spurt in militant activities in Punjab and the
north-east. Now the situation changed, although the tiger population
remained static with the annual mortality rate of tigers in wilderness
matched by their birth rate, both being 40. However, captive
breeding of tigers has shown a rise over the years.

A senior officer analysed that tigers in the forests of the southern region
 did not face a major threat from poachers because of
them being far removed from China, where there is a huge demand for tiger
skin and tiger bones. The Himalayas act as a huge
wall between China and India, while the absence of sea route, coupled with
the fact that it is not easy to air-lift any contraband
because of the intense security at airports, make across-the-border
smuggling between the two countries virtually impossible.
Tiger products are, therefore, routed through Nepal (from the Jim Corbett
National Park), the officer pointed out. It is the
proximity of China and Russia which was primarily responsible for the
disappearance of the famed Siberian tiger, the officer
reasoned out.