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India has a total of 2,226 tigers, with the number up 30 per cent since the earlier count in 2010, shows the latest census on this, issued on Tuesday.
The 2010 count had the number at 1,706, according to the All India Tiger Estimation, 2014, for 18 states.
“We now account for 70 per cent of the world’s tigers and I feel proud to say that. We have the world’s best-managed tiger reserves and the population has risen to 2,226,” Environment and forests minister Prakash Javadekar said here while issuing the report, the third round of an independent evaluation.
According to an official statement, the increase is due to measures such as setting up of a special tiger protection force, a programme for orphaned cubs, efforts to control poaching and initiatives to minimise human-animal conflict and encroachment.
Javadekar added that his ministry would keep a tab on the carrying capacity of the tiger reserves.
A total of 378,118 sq km of forest area in 18 states was surveyed. Javadekar said there were photographs of 80 per cent of the tigers (1,540).
The population is estimated by taking the midvalue of an assessed range.
With the same method, the estimate was 1,411 in 2006, which went up to 1,706 in 2010 and in 2014 to 2,226.
