"Reintroducing a species without restoring its habitat is conservation by numbers." Critically examine this with reference to tiger reintroduction in tiger-less reserves.

Reintroduction means bringing a species back to a range where it has died out. Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal had already lost its tigers and is now receiving them from Bihar. Critics argue that what is missing there is the forest, not the tiger. The statement is largely valid, though it is overstated.

Why the charge holds

• Prey deficit: A closed canopy has choked Buxa's grasslands, so there are few chital. Tigers instead take goats, macaques and cattle. The food chain is broken, not just missing its top predator.
• Cause of extinction still present: If tigers are released while the original threat remains, the extinction can repeat. Satkosia (Odisha) shows this: its reintroduction failed because the habitat was not ready.
• Fragmentation: Tea estates, a railway line and traffic on the Bhutan road cut off corridors, so tigers cannot disperse.
• Who bears the cost: Villagers are moved out of the core while the railway and the road stay. The law requires relocation to be voluntary and allowed only after rights are settled under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 [4].
• Calendar-driven targets: Releases follow a fixed timetable, not evidence that the prey base has recovered.

Why it is overstated

• Groundwork is real: Chital have been reintroduced, the canopy opened up and villages relocated. Tigers go first into a soft-release enclosure and wear radio collars.
• Proven model: Sariska was repopulated through translocation from 2008 and now has a breeding population.
• Flagship effect: A tiger brings funds and protection. Project Tiger has grown from nine reserves to 53 covering 75,796 km² [1].
• Legal backing: The 2006 amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, made on the Tiger Task Force's recommendations, created the NTCA and reserve-specific Tiger Conservation Plans [2].

Way forward

• Release each batch only after prey surveys show recovery. NTCA advisories already call for building up prey in low-density reserves [3].
• Bring the railway and road into the Tiger Conservation Plan, with underpasses and speed limits.
• Measure success by first-year survival, cubs born and fewer livestock kills.

In sum, reintroduction is a tool, not an outcome. Translocation should go together with restoring prey, habitat and corridors, and with voluntary relocation that respects people's rights. That would turn a head-count into a population that sustains itself, in line with Article 48A and SDG 15.