- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN environment minister Bhupender Yadav on Saturday (2) flagged off tiger rallies in 18 tiger range states across 51 reserves in the country as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ (an initiative of Indian government to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of India’s independence next year) and Wildlife Week (October 2-8) celebrations.
The rallies will cover more than 7,500 kilometres during the weeklong celebrations, traversing India’s diverse and picturesque landscapes.
Yadav virtually kicked off the rally in three tiger reserves – Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra and Sanjay Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh by waving a green flag.
He also released guidelines on sustainable eco-tourism in forest and wildlife areas, field guide for monitoring dolphins in the Ganges and Indus rivers, associated aquatic fauna and habitat and Nagar Van (urban forest) guidelines. The minister also released an online portal on wetlands, which is a single-point access to all information related to such ecosystems.
The launching event was held at the environment ministry headquarters in New Delhi and was attended by minister of state for environment Ashwini Choubey, environment secretary R P Gupta and additional directors general of forest Soumitra Dasgupta and SP Yadav.
With the theme ‘India for Tigers – A Rally on Wheels’, it will journey across 51 tiger reserves, 18 tiger range states where field directors, deputy directors and associated staff from respective tiger reserves will follow the assigned routes and unite at the designated focal point of celebration (the first nine tiger reserves designated during the inception of Project Tiger in 1973).
“With an aim to raise awareness on the importance of tiger conservation, the rally will bring together people from different walks of life and the large-scale coverage of the event will enable its global outreach,” Yadav said on the occasion.
