Saving 2 tigers gives more value than Mangalyaan!

New Delhi, July 16 : Comparing tigers and Mangalyaan may seem bizarre, but a new bio-economic analysis throws up interesting statistics — saving two big cats gives more value than the cost of India’s much-hyped maiden mission to Mars.
In a one-of-its-kind analysis, an Indo-Australian team of scientists has published a paper titled ‘Making the hidden visible: Economic valuation of tiger reserves in India’ in the journal Ecosystem Services.It says saving two tigers yields a capital benefit of about Rs 520 crore; in comparison ISRO’s maiden mission to mars Mangalyaan cost the country Rs 450 crore.
According to the last estimate, India is home to 2,226 adult tigers which would mean a capital benefit of about Rs 5.7 lakh crore—almost equivalent to a third of the total currency that was demonetised by the government! So, conservationists say saving tigers makes good economic sense!
This is when many of the ecosystem benefits accruing to the society by conserving natural habitats where tiger is the apex species simply cannot be assigned any monetary value.
Even then, the benefits of saving tigers throw up a huge number.