Tiger Population Growth in Valmiki Tiger Reserve | InNews | UPSC | Drishti IAS English

[0:00]seven X increase in the population of tigers. This news is a testament to our tiger conservation efforts. Hello students, welcome to Drishti IAS. In this session let us see which tiger reserve has seen the significant increase. And what are the best practices that it has been following that have led to this growth. So I'm talking about the Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Valmiki Tiger Reserve, which is in Bihar, has seen a seven-fold increase from just eight tigers in 2010 to 54 tigers in 2022. Which was the last published tiger senses. And we know that a tiger census is conducted every four years, every four years by the NTCA, National Tiger Conservation Authority, in collaboration with the State Forest Departments and the Wildlife Institute of India. So the next report is anticipated somewhere around in 2026 and the field work has already started and that's why the forest officials are claiming that this number will also increase. From 54, it is expected to reach 70. Seventy tigers in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve. This is a very good news for India as it tells us that the tiger conservation efforts that we are following are actually fruitful. And then there are certain best practices that the other states, the other tiger reserves can also borrow from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in order to have a sustainable tiger population. So I already told you that there is a tiger census that's conducted every four years and what do we have in India for the conservation of tigers? We have Project Tiger which was launched in 1973. So in India we are working towards the conservation of tigers and globally also we are working towards the conservation of big cats. There are seven big cats that have been identified and Tiger is one of the seven big cats. And this is being conserved under the India led initiative of International Big Cat Alliance. We have International Big Cat Alliance which works towards the conservation of seven big cats. And very recently Russia became our latest addition to the International Big Cat Alliance. So globally also we are working towards the conservation of these big cats, towards the conservation of tigers and domestically also we have Project Tiger where we work towards the conservation of tigers. Now because Valmiki Tiger Reserve is in news, this tiger reserve becomes very important for us. So let's talk about that. And before we do that, let me just quickly tell you that there is this exciting new course for you, which is the Studio GS Foundation Live Online Course. In this course, you're going to get a complete coverage of your UPSC Prelims and Mains syllabus in only rupees 24,999. And if in future you wish to join our offline foundation batch, this complete fee is going to be adjusted in the fees of the offline foundation batch. So this will practically be a completely free course for all the students who are planning to join the offline foundation batch at Drishti. So the admissions are already open. Please call us at 87501 87501 for more information. Now let's talk about the Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Valmiki Tiger Reserve is located in the West Champaran District, West Champaran District of Bihar. This was established in 1990 and this is the country's 18th tiger reserve. Right now, this is the only tiger reserve in Bihar, but because it is reaching its carrying capacity, another one has also received an in-principle approval. Kaimur Tiger Reserve is also going to be constructed, like Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary is going to be upgraded to a tiger reserve and this can happen in the near future. For now we have only Valmiki Tiger Reserve, which is a notified tiger reserve in Bihar, and this shares a 100-km-long forest boundary with Nepal's Chitwan National Park. Along with this, it is also very closely linked to a wildlife sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh, which is the Sohagibarwa. Sohagibarwa Wildlife Sanctuary, which is located on the north-eastern border of Uttar Pradesh, somewhere here. So it's very closely connected to the Chitwan National Park of Nepal and it is very closely connected to the Sohagibarwa Wildlife Sanctuary of Uttar Pradesh. And Rivers Gandak and Masan flow through it. So these are some static information, this is some static portion for Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Now what is Valmiki Tiger Reserve doing differently that the other tiger reserves can also follow? So it basically is working towards the development of a sustainable habitat approach. Now what is a sustainable habitat approach? It is actually a beautiful example that shows us that the different parts in an ecosystem are very carefully interconnected. So when we talk about tiger conservation, tiger is a predatory species. It is going to have prey and the prey in turn is going to feed on something. So this prey that we are talking about, the herbivores, they feed on grass. So Bihar is working towards the expansion and restoration of grasslands. It has been working towards the expansion of grasslands so that more and more grass is available. When more grass is available, more herbivores are going to feed on it and when more herbivores will be available, more prey will be available, the predator population in turn is going to increase. So this is one beautiful example that's the Bihar conservation, uh, that the Bihar government has been following. That the other tiger reserves which they are also doing, they can also enhance that efforts. And then there is a complete band, there is a mining band. Mining of sand and stone, mining band in the core areas of the tiger reserve, there is a complete band on mining over here. Then we also have community participation where the locals also participate towards the conservation efforts towards the conservation of tiger in the region. And so as to reduce the human wildlife conflict also, more and more locals are also more volunteers. They are also involved in the conservation efforts of tigers. And then another interesting thing that Bihar Government follows is the source sync. Source-sink model. Other tiger reserves are also following it, but they can basically enhance this even more. They can take the best practices, borrow the best practices from this tiger reserve and enhance their efforts in this direction. So the source-sink model actually is a model where the government basically works towards the conservation of source as well as the sink. The source here is the core, core area of the tiger reserve and the sink is the buffer area. So many a times what happens that the tiger reserves they are majorly focused on the conservation, on the protection of core areas only and often the buffer areas they get neglected. But this tiger reserve very beautifully follows the source-sink dynamics where it is working towards the conservation of core areas as well as the buffer zone. So when this happens, the entire ecosystem is protected. So that's what the Valmiki Tiger Reserve is doing and that is why there are anticipations that the number is going to increase for tigers in Valmiki Tiger Reserve and overall also there is a hope that the tiger population is going to increase as per the reports of the upcoming census. So that was all for this video. Now let us look at a practice question for prelims. And before practice question. With reference to tiger conservation in India, consider the following statements. 1. Project Tiger was launched in 1973 to ensure a viable population of tigers in India. 2. The All India Tiger Estimation is conducted once every five years using camera traps and sign surveys. 3. Corbett Tiger Reserve has recorded the highest number of tigers among individual tiger reserves in India as per the latest published census. Which of the statements given above is or are correct? A. 2 only, B. 2 and 3 only, C. 3 only or D. 1 and 3 only. Please provide your answers in the comment section and we will meet in a new video. Thank you for watching.