Efforts to save the tiger have pushed India's population of the big cat to nearly 2,500, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar today said hailing the strides the country has made in this regard.
Highlighting the need for protecting tiger corridors, he announced incentivising project proponents to give land for compensatory afforestation in Tiger corridors.
As per latest official count, India is home to 2,226 tigers, representing 70 per cent of the global population of the endangered big cat species.
"In the last two years, the number has risen and our rough estimate as of today is that India has nearly 2,500 tigers.
"That is a good news for India... (a result) of what we are doing for the last 12 years. We have zero tolerance towards poaching," Javadekar said at the inauguration of the 3rd Asia ministerial conference on tiger conservation.
He said that as per WWF estimates, the tiger population the world over has grown from 3,200 to 3,890 in the last five years, a 22 per cent increase.
"That is a great good news today morning," he said, adding that there are only 13 countries with tigers in the wild and six of them have seen an increase in their numbers.
"That shows that we are getting success. It was a proud moment for me when we had undertaken a tiger count in 2014... When I wrote 2,226 as India's tiger count it was fantastic as it was 30 per cent more than the last count. This is 70 per cent of the world tiger population," he said.
Stating that the tiger epitomises the health of the ecosystem, he stressed that success with tiger conservation means the whole ecosystem is improving.
"We are taking a historic decision to protect tiger corridors. We will incentivise project proponents to give land for compensatory afforestation in tiger corridors. By such measures over the years, we can free the tiger corridors and these will become forest land," he said.
"We have started a unique experiment with new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for orphaned tiger cubs. This has started yielding results and four such orphaned tigers have been released back into the wild after proper care in 'in situ' enclosures," he said.
He said that in earlier negotiations India used to oppose
many things but during the Paris summit, we decided not to oppose but to propose.
"The whole attitude of negotiation changed. Our Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) also helped as they were impressive. Reducing emission intensity by 35 per cent was not a small thing," he said.
Recounting the numerous visionary steps like green taxes like coal cess, taxes on moto-emitters, Ujala scheme, ethanol blending and others, Javadekar said that "India has taken the lead and the world must follow to realize the commitments".
"Things are changing in India and world has to follow and India is taking leadership position," Javadekar said.
Observing that India in its INDC has announced a target of creating 2.5 billion of carbon sink, the Minister hoped that his successor in the Environment Ministry Anil Madhav Dave will be able to convince all political parties in the upcoming monsoon session of the Parliament to pass the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Bill.
"The CAF bill is in Rajya Sabha. I hope that Anil Madhav Dave, who is a passionate environmentalist will be able to convince all political parties. If passed, there will be money going to states for afforestation," he said.
He said that nations across the world are trying to be part of the 'International Solar Alliance' which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Paris Summit and already 120 members are part of it.
He also exhorted industries and all the sectors towards achieving the commitments of INDCs at the earliest.
