Tiger is at great risk of extinction. However, after protecting them, Project Tiger will complete 50 years next month.
Politician and writer Karan Singh was instrumental in implementing the project in the late 1960s. When he was in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet, he was asked to take over the chairmanship of the Wildlife Board of India. Let us tell you that it was established in 1952 to give suggestions to the government.
Its work was to develop national parks, sanctuaries and geological parks.
Karan Singh said, “The first meeting was only introductory, but in the second meeting I realized to my surprise that till then the lion was our national animal, clearly based on the Ashoka lions in our national emblem. But the lion is found only in one corner of India, while the tiger is spread from Himachal Pradesh to Kerala and from Gujarat to Meghalaya.
“So, we passed a resolution in our meeting requesting the Government of India to change the national animal from lion to tiger. I took the proposal to Indira ji, who got it passed by the cabinet and made necessary amendments. Thus, I was responsible for the tiger becoming our national animal.” Karan Singh said.
Project Tiger was established by the Prime Minister as its chairman, Karan Singh as its vice-chairman and K.S. Shankhla was appointed as the first project director. Karan Singh said,“We started with nine tiger reserves and I had the privilege of inaugurating Project Tiger on April 1, 1973 at Corbett National Park.
Due to the project, the tiger population increased from 1,411 tigers in 2006 to 2,967 in 2018, accounting for 70 percent of the global tiger population.
Source – Hindustan Times
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