Wildlife Experts stated Government’s Count of Tigers based on Unreliable Data

Eight top wildlife experts, in a letter published in the Science magazine on 13 May 2011 stated that environment minister Jairam Ramesh's announcement that the tiger population had increased from 1411 in 2006 to 1706 in 2010 was based on unreliable data. K Ullas Karanth and seven Indian and international scientists noted in the letter that the Government assertions cannot be verified as details of tiger photo-captures at sampled locations, as well as of spatial extrapolations from these data, are incomplete.

The experts’ letter added to the pressure on the government to adopt a new comprehensive methodology to count the tigers.

Ramesh however argued against Karanth, a member of the ministry's National Tiger Conservation Authority and accused him of being intellectually dishonest. Ramesh insisted the tiger estimation was correct.

The day Karanth's letter was published, asking the government to overhaul its method of estimation, Ramesh approved a new scientific plan for counting the big cat population. The environment minister Jairam Ramesh in the plan incorporated some of Karanth's suggestions in the new plan such as annual monitoring and tiger estimation in 41 tiger reserves, wider coverage of camera-traps to capture in-depth tiger demography and greater reliability of data.

It is believed that the new plan in the tiger conservation strategy will allow regular updates on the number and health of the tigers across India.

India has 70% of the world's tigers but most of them live in 15 reserves, constituting a mere 10% of the remaining tiger habitat.