The Government has expanded Project Tiger scheme from 9 to 40 tiger reserves across 17 states in the country. The scheme was also revised last year and its allotment was increased over 1216 crore rupees.

This was stated by Environment and Forest Minister, Jayanthi Natrajan while, releasing a book in New Delhi today. Mrs. Natrajan said filed protection of tigers is the priority of the government and the states are being supported in a big way to deploy local workforce for protection. She said government has also taken steps for setting up a National repository of camera trap photo database of tigers.

The Minister said this will enable linkage with similar repositories in the states to keep track of wild tigers. Our correspondent reports that the Project Tiger scheme has the objective to ensure a viable population of tigers in the country and their conservation.