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Madhya Pradesh has recorded 55 tiger deaths in 2025, the highest annual toll since the launch of Project Tiger in 1973.

This has raised serious concerns over wildlife protection, habitat safety, and human–wildlife conflict management, despite MP being India’s leading tiger state.

Key Facts

  1. State concerned: Madhya Pradesh
  2. Tiger deaths in 2025: 55
  3. Historical context: Highest annual tiger deaths since Project Tiger (1973)
  4. Previous figures:
    •  2023 – 45 deaths
    •  2024 – 34 deaths
  6. Cause of deaths:
    •  Majority due to unnatural causes
    •  Electrocution, poaching-related injuries, and territorial conflicts identified
  8. Age of latest casualty: Male tiger, ~8–10 years
  9. Key risk factors:
    •  Expansion of tiger population
    •  Increased territorial overlap
    •  Unsafe agricultural fencing
    •  Human intrusion near reserves

Static Information / Background (Prelims Notes)

About Project Tiger

  1. Launched: 1973
  2. Objective: Conservation of tigers and their habitats
  3. Nodal authority: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
  4. Current tiger population (India): ~3,167 (as per Status of Tigers Report 2022)
  5. Madhya Pradesh: Known as the “Tiger State of India”

Structural Issues Highlighted

  1. Human–Wildlife Conflict: Expansion of reserves into human-dominated landscapes
  2. Electrocution risk:
    • Illegal fencing
    • Crude solar or live electric wires
  4. Habitat fragmentation: Roads, power lines, and agricultural fields near reserves
  5. Governance challenge: Enforcement gaps despite strong conservation frameworks

Prelims MCQ

Q1. With reference to tiger conservation in India, consider the following statements:

1. Project Tiger was launched in 1973 to conserve tigers through habitat protection and management.

2. Madhya Pradesh currently has the highest tiger population among Indian States.

3. All tiger deaths in protected areas are treated as natural deaths under wildlife law.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a) 2 and 3 only

b) 1 and 3 only

c) 1 and 2 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: C) 1 and 2 only

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