the recent tirade launched by international conservation organisations has at last forced the Indian government to wake up to the prevailing state of the Indian tiger. The ministry of environment and forests ( mef ) has acknowledged that a "serious crisis' threatens the Indian tiger. mef has also accepted the fact that much more than simple conservation has to be done in order to protect the tiger.

The minister of environment and forests, Jai Narain Prasad Nishad, announced at a recent meeting of the Tiger Crisis Cell that experts would be sent to tiger habitats throughout the country to assess the problems of the forest department personnel at the ground level. He said that Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda would be requested to address the nation on television about the tiger crisis. The Cell was also given the mandate to implement the recommendations made by the Subramaniam Committee report in 1994. The minister, however, declined to make a commitment to stop and remove all developmental projects which could pose a threat to tiger habitats.