Such a failure, in fact, may lie at the heart of the reason why many believe that the number of tigers in the country today may have halved, from about 3000-3500 to about 1200-1500 during the last tiger census in 2002. In the regions under Project Tiger, the CAG says that the tiger population rose to 1141 from 1121. Everything from adhocism, failure to enforce laws, flawed planning, monitoring of reserves, and census methods have been criticised. Similarly shown up were measures against poaching, and deficiencies in equipment, manpower, intelligence gathering and prosecution of wildlife crimes.

A much-touted tiger count was undertaken last year, after the Sariska scandal, which exposed how tigers were vanishing. The government is now engaged in an exercise to obtain accurate figures of the tiger population. The Tiger Task Force 2005 was marked by divisions with dissenting member Valmik Thapar protesting against the lopsided focus of the report, arising from a needless “people vs tigers” approach. Even the latest wildlife act amendments, taken in conjunction with the Tribal Land Rights Bill, which enables redistributing of forest land to tribals, will have an impact. Against poaching, however, there cannot be differing views. Apathy and corruption will have to end, and the government must give the wildlife department the necessary weapons, communication equipment, manpower and training. The tigers which are living must be saved.