As Congress takes credit for Project Tiger, GoI's 'hunting promotion' prior 1972 surfaces

Kanchan Gupta, a senior advisor to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, took a dig at Congress leader Jairam Ramesh who stoked a credit war on the "Project Tiger", saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing "tamasha" as the project to save the big cats was launched 50 years ago during the Grand Old Party's regime. Gupta shared an advertisement poster, reportedly of the Government of India Tourism Ofice, in which the then government promoted the hunting of Tigers in India.

"Thrill to the excitement of a tiger 'Shikar' (hunting), found only in the lush jungles of India. Fishing and small game hunting, too, await the adventure sportsman," read the alleged poster of the Government of India Tourist Office. It is pertinent to mention that before the ban on hunting wild animals in 1972, tiger hunting tourism used to take place in India and that too with the permission of the Government!

Gupta also shared another poster claiming it to be an advertisement poster of then-Govt owned Air-India, in which the hunting of tiger was shown.

Before 1972: A Reality Check

Before poaching of wild animals was banned in India in 1972, hunting tigers was a popular activity, especially among foreign tourists. According to Nawab Mir Arif Ali, a member of the royal Nawab family in Maharastra's Gadchiroli who ran a tiger hunting business before 1972, tiger hunting tourism used to take place in the country. "Tourists from across the world used to come here for wildlife hunting and the region had become very famous for tiger hunting," the 70-year-old member of the Nawab family told PTI.

"The government at that time earned Rs 3 crore through tiger tourism. The company used to charge Rs 1.50 lakh per head for tiger hunting with tourists coming from America, Denmark, Germany and other parts of Europe," he said.

Ali claimed that there used to be eight-day tiger hunting packages. "Before hunting was banned in 1972, the company had advanced bookings for the next 15 years," he said.

The Delhi HC, in its 1971 order banning the killing of tigers, observed that prior to March 8, 1968, there was no restriction on the export of skins of tigers, leopards, panthers and other wild animals whether as accompanied or unaccompanied baggage of the foreign tourists. However, the then government promulgated the Exports Control Order, of 1968, following which tiger, leopard and panther skins and cubs could be taken out of India by foreign tourists without any export restrictions.

Though the government issued another other on June 15, 1968, prohibiting the export of tigers, leopards, panthers and their products, the Delhi HC in its 1971 order, observed that the export of these products went up to Rs 18,39,714 during 1968-69 after the imposition of the ban as against Rs 14,87,903 during 1967-68.

It is pertinent to mention that after the independence in 1947 and till the ban on wild animals, Congress was in power in the Centre. Though with the "Project Tiger" in 1973, tiger conservation started in India, much of the damage had already been done.