Why in news? The free wildlife safari programme, ‘Bandipur Yuva Mitra’, for students of government schools in Chamarajanagar district.

Highlights:

• Programme for the underprivileged students residing in the villages and taluks of Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) to create awareness about the wildlife.
• The participants would become volunteers and create awareness amongst the villagers on to reduce human and animal conflict.
• The students attending the programme are ‘Yuva Mitras’ in creating positive park and people relation, and to create awareness on the do’s and don’ts to be followed during the animal encounter and animal straying out.
• The programme connects communities through an approach T-C-C-P-C (teacher to child, child to child, child to parent parents to community), to address forest and wildlife protection related issues

Why this Programme?

• The reserve is surrounded by 136 fringe villages with a distance of one kilometre from the tiger reserve boundary. The villages belong to five taluks, Gundlupet, Chamrajnagar, Nanjangud, Satgur and HD Kote Taluk
• Creates close coordination among different stakeholders like the forest department, education department, social welfare District Mineral Fund (main sponsor of this programme), and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• Students will get an opportunity to undertake nature related project activities as per New Education Policy (NEP) and enhance positive relationships between the communities around BTR with forest and wildlife.
• There will be a module prepared linking with the curriculum, and training will be provided to teachers with field visits to BTR and free wildlife safari

Other Programme

• Inaugurated an outlet of artefacts made from lantana plants
• The artefacts have been made by members of the tribal community under Mangala Grama Panchayat and Forest development committee..
• The products to be available for tourists and help in the financial empowerment of the members

National Tiger Conservation Authority Meeting

• There was also meeting with the members of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
• The meeting was the, third outside Delhi’s central office and the first to be held in south India.

About Bandipur Tiger Reserve

• Location : Chamarajanagar district in of Karnataka. It is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
• Geography: Located where the Deccan Plateau meets the Western Ghats,
• Biomes : Dry deciduous forests, moist deciduous forests and shrublands.
• River: Flanked by the Kabini river in the north and the Moyar river in the south. The Nugu river runs through the park.
• The highest point : Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta
• Conflicts and threats: National Highways NH-181 and NH-766 pass through
• Park is haunted by lantana plants and 60% of the forest is covered with weed.

Project Tiger

• The programme launched in April 1973 by the Government of India during Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s tenure.
• Aims at ensuring a viable population of the Bengal tiger in its natural habitats, protecting it from extinction, and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage that represent the diversity of ecosystems
• Monitoring system: M-STrIPES was developed to assist patrol and protect tiger habitats
• Administered Authority : National Tiger Conservation Authority