Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve becomes the 7th tiger reserve of Madhya Pradesh and 55th in India.

Tags: State News

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change declared Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve as the 7th Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh.

An Overview of the News

• The primary objective is to ensure better conservation efforts for the wildlife of the area.

• There are now a total of 55 designated tiger reserves in India.

• Earlier the 54th Tiger Reserve was Dholpur-Karauli Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.

• Madhya Pradesh was already home to six tiger reserves: Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Satpura, Pench, Panna and Sanjay-Dubri.

Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve:

• Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve was established as per the conditions laid down by the Central Government while approving the Ken-Betwa River Linking Project.

• Madhya Pradesh was entrusted with the task of merging Nauradehi and Durgavati wildlife sanctuaries to create this sanctuary.

• In June 2023, the combined area spanning Sagar, Damoh and Narsinghpur districts was officially notified as the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve.

• The reserve covers approximately 2,339 square kilometers, comprising 1,414 square kilometers of core area and 925.12 square kilometers of the buffer zone.

Tiger Population in India

• India is home to a significant portion, approximately 75%, of the global wild tiger population.

• Russia is second only to India in terms of the second-largest population of wild tigers.

Tiger population in states

• Madhya Pradesh leads with the largest population of tigers in India with 785 tigers.

• Karnataka and Uttarakhand stand second with 563 and 560 tigers respectively.

• Maharashtra also plays an important role with 444 tigers.

Tiger population in the reserve

• Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve has the highest tiger population with 260 tigers.

• Other notable reserves include Bandipur (150), Nagarhole (141), Bandhavgarh (135), Dudhwa (135), Mudumalai (114), Kanha (105), Kaziranga (104), Sunderbans (100), Tadoba (97), Sathyamangalam. (85), and screw (77).

Largest and smallest tiger reserves in India

• Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve in Andhra Pradesh is the largest tiger reserve in terms of area.

• Bor Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra holds the title of the smallest tiger reserve in terms of area.

About Madhya Pradesh

• It is the second largest state of India in terms of area after Rajasthan.

• Forests occupy 25.14 percent of its area.

• Governor - Mangubhai Patel

• Chief Minister - Shivraj Singh Chauhan

• Capital - Bhopal

• Union Cabinet Minister for Labor and Employment, Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the Government of India: Bhupendra Yadav