NEW DELHI: India's federal government cracked the whip on States faltering on the country's tiger conservation goals and asked them yesterday to step up efforts in deploying special forces for the protection of the endangered striped cat. India's environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan yesterday confabulated with field directors of all Indian tiger reserves, where she sent out the instructions to expedite raising these Special Tiger Protection Forces (STPFs) and to arm and deploy them in tiger habitats. More than half the world's tiger population is in India, but the numbers until a few years ago, were alarmingly declining when the federal government hit the panic button and launched a national tiger conservation mission. The effort has paid partial dividends and the last tiger census has recorded a marginal increase. The current tiger population in India in the wild is estimated at 1,706. Man-tiger conflicts in addition to degradation of natural tiger habitats due to mining and industrialization were the chief contributors to the majestic striped cat being endangered. In its tiger conservation efforts, the Federal government provides provincial states governments with 100 per-cent funding. Yet some states, notably Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Orissa, which have large tiger habitats have failed to set up any special tiger protection forces. Natarajan said conservation of the striped cat is the collective responsibility of civil society, the federal government and the provincial state governments, urging all involved to take it up as a mission.
