The new tiger census has raised a lot of cheer, showing that the population of these big cats in India has risen 21% since the last census, going up to 1,706 from 1,411. Sure, as is the case with the release of most numbers these days, there is some cavilling about the measuring methods. One attack goes that only 500 tigers were captured by camera traps and the overall number extrapolated in a questionable fashion. There is also the charge that the new tiger census includes habitats that hadn?t been covered last time, and the increased count cannot, therefore, be taken at its trumpeting face value. Such charges can be countered by the scientific nature of the new census. Carried out in three phases during December 2009-2010, at a cost of R9.1 crore, involving more than 4,70,000 forest personnel and a number of volunteers, covering more than 45,000 sq km of forest area and including 39 designated tiger reserves, this census was definitely quite sophisticated. This is not to say that we can rest on our laurels. Announcing the census results, environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh said, ?We can deal with the threat of poachers, of the real estate and mining mafias, but it?s much harder to deal with the developmental dynamic.? That?s the key challenge, to figure out a compromise between people and tigers, with more than a quarter of India?s tigers living outside the reserves.
When Independent India saw its first attempt to relocate wild tigers (from Ranthambore to Sariska) three years ago, The Economist wrote: ?Attracting the votes of many poor people who live in tiger habitat has been a more pressing concern for her government than preserving the lives of unenfranchised tigers. But no government wants to see the tiger, and emblem of India, go extinct on its watch.? Because the resource crunch will only get tighter, the imperative to resolve this conflict will only become more pressing. We hope to see Ramesh offer some concrete solutions on this front. Meanwhile, the four-year tiger census can be made into a more frequently upgraded affair. Continuous monitoring of the tiger population would also water down charges that the census is adulterated.