(IN) Mr.Ramesh finally wakes up to the 'alarming situation'!!!!!

[Guest guest]

Looks like a lot of bureaucratic mambo-jambo to me….the situation has been

`alarming' for ages Mr.Ramesh…it's just that you woke up to it right now!!!! And

if such a situation has arisen then who is to be blamed Mr.Ramesh????????? A

crime has many accomplices…I guess you do know that!!!!!!

Re-introduce the `Cheetah' huh??? Get it from abroad…..a good decision..but if

we're not able to sustain our very own cheetahs here then how are we going to

save the one's coming from abroad????? Would it be a feasible decision?????

 

Warm Regards

Radhika Singh

 

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090708/main5.htm

 

Govt admits to big cat trouble

Sixteen reserves are in the danger zone from where tigers have vanished or are

on the brink of vanishing

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 7

The government today admitted that the situation in 16 of the country's 37 tiger

reserves was " truly alarming " .

Rampant poaching of tigers has led to big cats becoming locally extinct in

Sariska and Panna Reserves, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh acknowledged in

the Rajya Sabha today while assuring that " appropriate interventions " were

underway to ensure that the country does not lose all its big cats to blatant

wildlife plunder.

Replying to a calling attention notice in the Rajya Sabha by Rajiv Pratap Rudy

of the BJP on the depletion of tiger population and in some cases extinction in

protected areas like Sariska and Panna, Ramesh said tiger poaching was rampant

in India and smuggling of tiger skin the second largest after illicit trade in

narcotics.

The minister said studies revealed that situation in 16 reserves was truly

alarming and these sanctuaries could lose all their tigers if appropriate

interventions and initiatives were not taken to improve the situation. " Sixteen

reserves are in the danger zone from where tigers have vanished or are on the

brink of vanishing, 12 reserves are in good condition and the situation in the

remaining nine is satisfactory but needs to improve, " he said, while pinpointing

poaching, degradation of forest status outside tiger reserves and protected

areas due to human pressure, livestock pressure and ecologically unsustainable

land-use as being main reasons for tiger decline.

The status of tiger is low in some tiger reserves is also due to ecological

factors like heavy rainfall leading to dense forest cover and paucity of natural

prey base like in Dampa in Mizoram, Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh and

Kallakad-Mundanthurai in Tamil Nadu. Left-wing extremism or other extremist

disturbances are responsible in some reserves like Indravati (Chhattisgarh),

Valmiki (Bihar), Manas (Assam), Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh), Buxa

(West Bengal), Palamu (Jharkhand) and Simlipal (Orissa).

There has been an alarming decline in the tiger population despite the

government's best efforts. Conservation of tigers continues to be among top

priorities for the government, which doubled the budgetary allocation for the

Tiger Project to Rs 184 crore in 2009-10 from Rs 72 crore in 2008-09. The

government has earmarked Rs 650 crore in the 11th Plan for Project Tiger.

Project Tiger is an autonomous body entrusted with the task to protect and

conserve the big cats, whose number has dwindled to 1,411 across the country as

per the latest estimate.

Incidentally there is also confusion on the exact number of tigers in the

country.

As per the findings of the recent All India Tiger Estimation in 2008, using the

refined methodology, the total country level population of tiger is 1411

(mid-value) the lower and the upper limits being 1165 and 1657, respectively.

But this assessment is not comparable to the earlier total count using pugmarks.

Observing that the tiger census methods, including pugmark counting, were

faulty, the Minister said though the precise number of tigers was not available

now, it was estimated to be in the range of 1140-1600.

Meanwhile the government is planning to strengthen legislation to curb poaching

and other illegal activities in forest reserves by creating a National Green

Tribunal. The Environment Ministry has moved the Cabinet for setting up of a

Green Tribunal for speedy disposal of wildlife related cases. The government

also plans to " restore " the Cheetah, which is extinct in India, by bringing the

animal from abroad in the next few months.