India's tiger population sees 30% increase
- 20 January 2015
- From the section Asia
India says it now has almost a third more tigers than it did four years ago.
Presenting the findings of the latest tiger census, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the tiger population had risen from 1,706 in 2011 to 2,226 in 2014.
He said a number of government initiatives to streamline tiger conservation were behind the increase.
India is estimated to be home to around 70% of the world's tigers.
Mr Javadekar described the results of the census as a "huge success story".
"Never before has such an exercise been taken on such a massive scale where we have unique photographs of 80% of India's tigers," he told journalists in Delhi.
"While the tiger population is falling in the world, it is rising in India. This is great news," he added.
Tiger conservation practices that had proved successful in India could be adopted elsewhere, he suggested.
He also said India was willing to donate tiger cubs to the international community and play a key role in global tiger conservation.
Wildlife campaigners had been expressing concerns over dwindling numbers of tigers for some time.
The Times of India says that as recently as 2008, census figures showed a tiger population of just 1,411.