Tiger census to start in January amid growing man-animal conflict
Bengaluru: In response to increasing incidents of man-animal conflict, particularly tiger capture and relocation operations in key tiger reserves, the Karnataka Forest Department is reportedly preparing for the upcoming all-India tiger census. The exercise is set to begin in January 2026, with staffers already undergoing training.
“The tiger estimation exercise will be done in the first week of January. The dates are yet to be finalised. The exercise will first be done in Project Tiger areas and then in other forest patches. Training for Bengaluru Circle has been completed,” The New Indian Express quoted PC Rai, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), as saying.
The census will unfold in three phases: Phase-1 will gather data on carnivore and prey base density, Phase-2 will involve field reports, and Phase-3 will focus on camera trap data. The final all-India tiger estimation report is expected to be released in April 2026.
Initially, Karnataka was set to begin its annual tiger estimation exercise by the end of November and complete it by mid-December. However, due to delays in staff training, the exercise was postponed. “All tiger states have been directed to follow one calendar for the estimation, to avoid confusion and duplication in the Monitoring Systems for Tigers -- Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-Str-IPES) portal and mobile app,” TNIE quoted an official from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change as saying.
The all-India tiger estimation report, prepared by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Wildlife Institute of India, indicated an overall increase in tiger numbers in Karnataka. From 300 tigers in 2010, the state’s population grew to 406 in 2014, 524 in 2018, and 563 in 2022. With 785 tigers, Karnataka ranks second in the country, following Madhya Pradesh, in terms of tiger population.
The all-India estimation, cited by the newspaper, further showed that the Central and Eastern Ghats landscape housed 1,439 tigers, while the Western Ghats landscape housed 1,087 big cats.
Despite the rise in tiger numbers, officials have raised concerns about the increasing man-animal conflicts, particularly in areas with high tiger densities.
A senior official, quoted by TNIE, highlighted that forest cover in the state is shrinking, putting additional pressure on the land and wildlife. “Bandipur and Nagarahole tiger reserves house tigers beyond their carrying capacity, thus conflict is increasing. We have now adopted relocation to newer, safer habitats policy,” the official added.
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Ambani, Adani pledge USD 210 bn for India's AI push
New Delhi (PTI): Conglomerates run by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani committed USD 210 billion investment to creating infrastructure that will help India emerge as an AI development hub.
At the India AI Impact Summit, Ambani announced a Rs 10 lakh crore (about USD 110 billion) investment in artificial intelligence over the next seven years in gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centres in Jamnagar, leveraging up to 10 GW of green power surplus, and a nationwide edge-compute layer integrated with telecom and digital operator Jio's networks to deliver low-latency AI across India.
"Our resolve is clear: make intelligence as ubiquitous as connectivity," he said. "When compute becomes infrastructure, innovation will become inevitable."
Adani, on the other hand, unveiled a USD 100-billion investment to develop renewable-energy-powered, hyperscale AI-ready data centres by 2035 -- one of the world's largest integrated energy-compute commitments.
The initiative is expected to catalyse an additional USD 150 billion across server manufacturing, cloud platforms, and supporting industries, creating a projected USD 250 billion AI infrastructure ecosystem in India.
India must architect its own artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure rather than rely on imports, Adani Group executive director Jeet Adani said on Thursday, warning that AI will redefine national sovereignty.
Other major investments announced at the Summit included USD 50 billion commitment by Microsoft by the end of the decade to expand artificial intelligence access across the Global South. "India, not surprisingly, is one of the largest," its vice chair and president, Brad Smith, said.
The firm had unveiled USD 17.5 billion investment in AI investments in India last year.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a new subsea cable initiative to boost AI connectivity between India, the US and other locations, alongside partnerships for cloud infrastructure platform support to over 20 million public servants across 800 districts.
Yotta Data Services, backed by a real estate group headed by Niranjan Hiranandani, announced over USD 2 billion spend on Nvidia's latest chips in an artificial intelligence computing hub it is setting up just outside the national capital.
While Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) signed up ChatGPT parent OpenAI as its first customer for its data centre unit under the global AI infrastructure initiative Stargate, infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro announced a proposed venture with Nvidia to build AI-ready data centre infrastructure, advanced computing platforms, and ecosystem enablement required to support large-scale AI workloads.
