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.