PM Modi releases tiger census report, their population doubles since 2014
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday released the All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018 and said the country has emerged as of one of the biggest and safest habitats for tigers in the world.
The tiger population in the country has grown from 1,400 in 2014 to 2,977 in 2019, according to the report.
"With around 3,000 tigers, India has emerged as of one of the biggest and safest habitats for them in world," Modi said as he lauded all the stakeholders involved in the country's tiger conservation exercise.
"Nine long years ago, it was decided in St. Petersburg (Russia) that the target of doubling the tiger population would be 2022. We in India completed this target four years in advance. This is the finest example of Sankalp Se siddhi (Attainment through Resolve)," he said.
He invoked two Bollywood movie titles to emphasise the need to expand and strengthen tiger conservation efforts.
The story of protecting tigers that started with "Ek Tha Tiger" (there was once a tiger) and reached "Tiger Zinda Hai" (the tiger is alive) should not end there, he said, efforts towards conservation should be expanded and sped up.
The PM said that the development versus environment conservation debate will continue with both sides suggesting as if these are mutually exclusive, but it was possible to strike a healthy balance between the two.
He said that while in the last five years, the focus was on to build next generation infrastructure in the country, there has also been an increase in the forest cover and number of protected areas.
"In 2014, the number of protected areas were 692, the number rose to more than 860 in 2019. Similarly, the number of community reserves were 43 in 2014 and rose to more than 100 in 2019," he said.
He said India will build more homes for its citizens and also create quality habitats for animals at the same time.
"I just want to tell the people associated with this work that the story which started with Ek Tha Tiger and reach Tiger Zinda Hai should not stop there. This will not work. The work towards tiger conservation has to be expanded and sped up," he said.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
