NTCA will have vision document for 2023-2033

Mysuru: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) which held its 22nd meeting at Bandipur Tiger Reserve for the first time outside New Delhi, decided to have a vision document for the decade and to have a calendar marking the celebration of 50 years of Tiger Conservation project.
The meeting was chaired by the union minister for environment, forests and climate Bhupender Yadav who is also the chairman of NTCA.
During the meeting, the issues were discussed and the plan for 2023-2033 for India was approved.
NTCA member PR Sinha, former director of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, spoke to TOI about the decision taken at the indoor meeting headed by the minister.
"India will enter the 50th year of implementation of Project Tiger in 2023. It was in April 1973 that the project was launched to protect tigers in India. Since then, we have come a long way. The meeting decided to look at the achievement, success, implementation, and challenges of the project and to develop a plan for the next decade," he said.
Yadav held a discussion for two days on these issues in detail and approved the subjects to take the conservation programme to the next level. A calendar of celebrations will be prepared, depicting the achievements of tiger projects in all the reserves across the nation.
Sinha said India’s Project Tiger has been the most successful tiger success story in the world. We now have to compete with our own plans and see that tiger projects are effectively implemented.
The vision document will be based on the journey of 50 years of the tiger project.
NTCA is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change constituted under the enabling provisions of the Wildlife protection act 1972 for strengthening tiger conservation.
Currently, India has 53 tiger reserves including five in Karnataka.
A census of tigers is conducted every four years. As per the latest counting exercise done in 2018, India has 2967 tigers of which 524 tigers are in Karnataka alone.
Bandipur Tiger Reserve Director P Ramesh Kumar coordinated the meeting, which was attended by directors from tiger reserves in India. Some senior IFS officers also attended the meeting.