An evaluation committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) had recommended the idea of NWCA last year in a report on the performance of 12 Plan schemes. Following NTCA's opposition to the proposal, the ministry has currently shelved the plan, top officials said.

Following a review of NTCA's fund allocation, habitat and conservation issues, the ministry's evaluation committee, headed by senior economic adviser Anandi Subramanian, had recommended that NTCA should be renamed NWCA to widen its scope and include all wildlife and habitat conservation schemes under it. "Such convergence will avoid pitfalls associated with the current delineation of activities under each scheme," the evaluation committee had said.

Expressing its disagreement with the recommendations, the NTCA has said that instead of diluting an existing "success story", the ministry needs to strengthen other wildlife schemes. The new proposal, it said, would be a generalised approach and would not make any impact with regard to tigers, as it stems from an administrative and economic point of view.

"The species specific approach of Project Tiger is highly technical and has stood the test of time. This successful, pioneering venture should be retained as such without its merger with any other scheme," the NTCA said. It suggested that rather than a unified authority, there is a need for projects to conserve flagship species from other habitats, such as Project Lion and Project Snow Leopard.