Amalgamation will squeeze already dwindling fund flow, say experts; similar plan was rolled back in 2011 after experts raised concerns
Photo: iStock An order on June 23, 2023 finally made it official — Project Tiger and Project Elephant have been merged, meaning a common allocation will fund both beginning this year. The merger was announced in April 2023; however, there is still no clarity on how the finances would be split between the conservation projects.
Sources in the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) confirmed the amalgamation has already been done — a new division, ‘Project Tiger and Elephant Division,’ has been notified under the ministry.
The decision, apparently driven by an effort to squeeze funds, is likely to impact conservation of both signature animals — particularly tigers, according to several wildlife experts across the country.
While few opined the decision may be an administrative one and not likely to impact the conservation programmes much, they admitted that “lack of details is adding to the confusion.”
Experts, including both retired and in-service forest officials — most of whom spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity — observed the move may prove to be another setback for MoEFCC after the much-vaunted recent Cheetah reintroduction project in India.
The MoEFCC decision on the merger was unexpected — it came less than four months after the Prime Minister referred to the programme as “a remarkable success story in the conservation and growth of tigers” on its 50th anniversary.
The head of the project, S P Yadav, had said, “The goal for the next 50 years is to sustain a viable tiger population”.
Project Elephant completed 30 years in 2022.
Experts pointed out that a similar proposal was made by the erstwhile Planning Commission in 2011 to merge three centrally sponsored schemes — Project Tiger, Project Elephant, and Integrated Development under Wildlife Habitat — into one.
But the plan was dropped by then-Union environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan after experts on the National Board for Wildlife standing committee objected. “We demand a similar rollback of the merger from both the environment minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi this time,” said several experts.
There has been no official reason for the unification. However, officials in the green department suggested the union was done to rationalise the funding.
“The amalgamation will bolster the conservation of both the animals, as they often share the same landscapes in the country,” said an official. “There will be less overlap in areas with both the programmes. The administrative setup for the two schemes will continue to exist separately, only funding is to be merged.”
Records available with this reporter showed the actual fund allocation on tiger conservation has been dwindling since 2018-19. There was a surge of allocation in 2022-23, though the actual fund release was much less even in that financial year.
The amalgamated budget of Project Tiger and Project Elephant schemes in 2023-24 stands at Rs 331 crore, according to an analysis. This is a reduction from 2022-23 combined budgetary amount of Rs 335 crore including Rs 300 crore for Project Tiger and Rs 35 crores for elephant.
However, the actual fund released in 2022-23, combining the budgets for Project Tiger and Project Elephant, was only Rs 220 crore — only about two-third of the allotted amount.
Fund allocation for Project Tiger was Rs 350 crore in 2018-19, Rs 282.57 crore in 2019-20, Rs 195 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 220 crore in 2021-22.
Now that the money has been coupled, there is a lot of confusion about the division, said Biswajit Roy Chowdhury, a wildlife expert and a member of the state wildlife advisory committee.
“How will the funds be split? Will it be based on the number of animals? What will happen in areas like the Sundarbans, where there are no elephants,” asked Chowdhury.
“The process of requisition and release has become extremely complicated in recent years and most tiger reserves are suffering. Around Rs 300 crore was allocated in the last financial year for 53 tiger reserves and even that amount has not been released,” said a senior forest department official from Madhya Pradesh.
“The merger will further impact the funding pattern for tiger reserves, as Project Elephant will become a parasite on Project Tiger and both will suffer,” said another official from Rajasthan.
Hardly any funds have been released in the current financial year, pointed out Rajarshi Banerjee, a wildlife expert from West Bengal. “A shortage of funds may affect key developmental activities, including anti-poaching work,” Banerjee said.
Funding from the central and state governments along with other sources is one of the poorest five performance areas for all the tiger reserves in the country among the 33 parameters considered, found the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Tiger Reserves In India report published in April 2023.
Both projects formulated separately as their challenges are different and there is significant divergence, stated a frontline wildlife expert in the country. “The merger will undermine the conservation of both signature animals,” the expert said.
Pradeep Vyas, a retired forester from West Bengal, however, expressed hope that the decision would not affect the conservation process.
“I think the union is an administrative decision. The National Tiger Conservation Authority has already been looking after leopards and rhinos for a long time in some areas. Hence, adding elephants should not be a problem if handled well,” said Vyas, reminding that settling human-elephant conflicts is a priority.
Another retired forester as well as a tiger expert with the nonprofit World Wide Fund also expressed hope that the merger would not impact the conservation process, but observed that more clarity is required on the process.
“The late funding was always an issue. The latest decision may be an effort to correct this,” added the West Bengal-based Indian Forest Service official.
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