Centre Merges 'Project Tiger' With 'Project Elephant'; Wildlife Activists Raise Concerns

A fresh row of dissension has erupted over the recent merging of Project Tiger and Project Elephant into a new division 'Project Tiger and Elephant Division'. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has triggered concerns among wildlife activists after it decided to merge two separate, mega projects under one head without any prior discussion with people concerned. The merger on the 50th commemorative year of Project Tiger has come as a blow to wildlife activists and forest officials. 

Sources within the wildlife division of the Ministry have revealed that the merger has been decided without any kind of discussion, according to a report by The Indian Express. Activists have raised concerns that the merger may dilute the importance of Project Tiger and the same may be buried under the bureaucratic quagmire of MoEF&CC. 

After the merger, the staff and divisional heads of Project Elephant (PE) will now report to the additional director general of forests (ADGF), Project Tiger (PT), who has now been designated as ADGF (PT&E).

Activists have said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the chairman of the National Board for Wildlife should look into such decisions of the Ministry and have urged that the two projects remain separate.

According to the IR report, the Inspector General Forests and Project Director, Project Elephant, will be the divisional head of the PT&E division and will be reporting to the ADGF (PT&E), who is also the member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). While the announcement of the merger was announced in April the official order in this regard was issued two months later, on June 23.

However, another section associated with the conservation projects has said that there would not be any negative impact following the merger of the two projects, and it would only help in streamlining the efforts to conserve both species. According to a report by The Hindu, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Kumar Pushkar, has said that since the two species share the same habitat and are at the top of the carnivorous and herbivorous families, the benefits for one would percolate to the other.