Reinvent tiger conservation

The new conservation agenda should not revolve around tiger versus tribal

The year 2023 marks 50 years of Project Tiger, India’s flagship programme to protect its flagship species. In 2005, I chaired a tiger task force with fellow conservationists as its members to review what had gone wrong in the Sariska tiger sanctuary, which had lost all its tigers. Our report, “Joining the Dots”, put forward the agenda for tiger conservation. It was not well received in the close-knit “tiger” community, as it was seen to be more human-centric than conservationist.

Much water has flowed under the bridge since we submitted the report to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Much has been