whole park, spread across 275 square kilometers, is classified as a core

the core area makes up 716 square kilometers of its 1,545 overall area. Until now, tourists were allowed access to 207 square kilometers of the core area

Supreme Court of India imposed an interim ban on all tourism activities in core areas of tiger forests.

"(Until) final directions of the court, core areas in tiger reserves will not be used for tourism activities,"

expected to release its final ruling on August 22.

Last April the court ruled that all states must identify core zones and buffer zones of their tiger parks as part of a rolling effort to regulate where tourist attractions can be located

Tourist resorts and villages are to be located only in the buffer zones of parks. States are reluctant to identify buffer zones

Irked by the lethargy of states in complying with the court's three-month-old order directing them to notify core and buffer zones of tiger reserves, national parks and sanctuaries, a bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and F M I Kalifulla said if there was no action within three weeks, environment secretaries concerned could face contempt proceedings in addition to being saddled with a cost of Rs 50,000.

The interim ban is expected to goad the states in the right direction by shutting down the core areas

Times View
At a time when there is growing interest in sighting the big cat, the Supreme Court's decision to ban tourists from entering core tiger areas could actually turn out to be a setback for tiger conservation. Regulated presence of tourists actually acts as a sort of protection for animals and as a deterrent to poachers. Minus any legal human presence, poachers may get an unhindered run of the core areas. In fact, there may not even be a check on the work being put in by forest officials. Sharp-eyed tourists are known to have brought violations to the notice of officials and keep them on their toes. It would have been better to remove all human settlements from the core areas and give a free run to tigers, and a slightly restricted one to tourists.

1 Oct, 2012

Lodges are not operational from 1st July onwards till 15th October, as the national parks are closed due to monsoons.

The year before, Madhya Pradesh had notified [hmm?] buffer zones in all its reserves, except Panna. People in Panna have been protesting the notification because they fear it will affect their livelihood. The state’s chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, too, had publicly announced in October, 2010, that Panna will not have a buffer zone. He said people were more important. After the court’s order, the protests in Panna have become vociferous

hearing on 22 August, at which Travel Operators For Tigers (TOFT) will present an argument to the Supreme Court for a review petition, allowing for the continuation of sustainable tourism in India's National Parks and reserves

Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) on Friday. The park is spread over 543 sq km, where a big cat revival programme is underway after it lost all the tigers primarily to poaching some three years ago

Belinda Wright, executive director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, based in New Delhi, said a tourist ban would be a "total disaster".

Corbett Foundation, another wildlife protection charity in India, agrees.

Wright said Dubey was using unreliable figures. "Until the 2008 census, the tiger population was calculated using a discredited, unscientific method which allowed states to dramatically overestimate,"

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has issued the first-ever guidelines for 'tiger conservation and tourism' proposing tourism in 20% core areas of tiger reserves and national parks.

With this importance of tourism in tiger conservation in mind, it is recommended that a maximum of 20% of the core or critical tiger habitat usage (not exceeding the present usage) for regulated, low-impact tourist visitation may be permitted. In case the current usage exceeds 20% the Local Advisory Committee may decide on a timeframe for bringing down the usage to 20%.

court said that states will have to adhere to guidelines issued by Centre...yesterday

ban was imposed after states failed to comply with the Centre's notification

Court has asked every state to prepare tiger conservation plan within 6 months keeping in mind the NTCA guidelines and submit it to the Centre for approval