The declining tiger population in the country figured in the budget proposals for 2008-09 with the government announcing a special package for the conservation of the big cats. "The tiger is under grave threat,' Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said, while presenting the budget estimates in Parliament on Friday. Mr. Chidambaram said that in order to redouble the government's effort to protect the tiger, there was a special allocation of Rs.50 crore for the National Tiger Conservation Authority. The bulk of the grant would be used to raise a special armed Tiger Protection Force. In the last budget the Minister announced an expert committee to study the impact of climate change on India and identify the measures that would be taken in the future to deal with climate change. "Even while adhering to the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, we can and we must do a number of things in our self-interest,' he said, while advocating the need for promoting clean technology, reviewing fuel emission and efficiency regulations. He said India could replace wood with solar energy as the fuel of common use, and encourage the use of gas which is the most benign hydrocarbon.