The state of Bihar would not permit any mining or commercial activity in the entire area of Valmiki National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary measuring 2,11,535 ha ordered the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in this 14-page judgement.

Four species of animals which had apparently disappeared from the neglected Valmiki Tiger Reserve have been recently discovered there.

Bihar government is betting big on eco-tourism, especially in Valmiki Nagar Tiger Reserve. The reserve is situated on the Indo-Nepal border and state government has recently inaugurated jungle safari for this area. The state government is also developing basic infrastructures to make it a tourist attraction.

"A great number of tourists, both domestic and international, are now heading for Bihar. We want to provide verity to them," said Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, "this is why, the state government has begun its ambitious eco-tourism project.

Corbett National Park (Uttarakhand) Security in the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) was recently breached by gangs of poachers belonging to five different communities.

“This is unprecedented,” said S.K. Datta, chief conservator of forest, wildlife and intelligence in Uttarakhand. “The local Sapera, Kanjar and Bawariya communities joined hands with members of the Bagdi community which hails from Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, with the members of the Bagariya tribe which hails from districts in Rajasthan and Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, to enter the CTR with the intention of poaching.”

The Naxalites are expanding their tentacles into the tiger territory. Thirty per cent of India’s tiger reserves are already under their control.

Indian forest officials, from the states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, present at the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), complained of increasing Naxal infiltration in India’s heartland. The tiger reserves comprising Valmiki in Bihar, Palamau in Jharkhand, Indravati in Chhattisgarh, Buxa in West Bengal and Simplipal in Orissa are some of the reserves bearing the brunt of the Naxal menace.

The SC deadline for notifying buffer areas around each tiger reserve is being cheered by the greens. But court orders alone cannot alter the grim ground reality. A primer
HOW

VALMIKI NAGAR (BIHAR): Bihar is planning to create more grasslands in its only tiger reserve to help support more prey animals for the big cats that currently number 11.

The tiger has traversed 300 km from the Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) to reach this island covered by tall grasses and with plenty of neelgai and wild pigs for prey.
The matter of concern for the state government, as it is for the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), is that this majestic animal should not stray into a heavily populated village where there is a strong likelihood of the animal coming to harm.

In the backdrop of concerns regarding the dwindling number of tigers in the country, the ongoing tiger census has brought some more alarming news from Bihar. At the Valmiki Tiger Reserve

Unable to elicit a