Lok Sabha Question No. 198 (STARRED), answered on 2016-11-29
Subject: Losses due to Wild Animals
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK, BHARAT SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. *198

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.11.2016

## Losses due to Wild Animals

## *198.   DR. RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK': SHRI BHARAT SINGH:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of loss of life and heavy damage to agricultural crops and  property  caused  by  wild  animals  including  Blue  Bulls  (Nilgais),  Wild  Boar, Monkeys,  etc.  in  various  parts  of  the  country  including  Uttarakhand  and  if  so,  the details thereof, State-wise;
- (b) the  action  plan  formulated  by  the  Government  in  this  regard  along  with  the  efforts made for coordination with the State Governments;
- (c) whether any  institution  including  Agricultural  Universities  are  doing  any  research  to deal with the aforesaid problem and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether the Government has any policy to compensate for the loss of life and damage to agricultural crops and property of farmers due to wild animals, and if so, the details and status of implementation thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ANIL MADHAV DAVE)

(a), (b), (c) and (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a), (b), (c) AND (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *198 REGARDING 'LOSSES DUE TO WILD  ANIMALS'  BY DR.  RAMESH  POKHRIYAL  'NISHANK'  AND  SHRI BHARAT SINGH DUE FOR REPLY ON 29.11.2016

- (a) Incidences of loss of human lives and damage to crops by wild animals are reported in various  parts  of  the  country  from  time  to  time  and  also  in  Uttarakhand.  Due  to multiple births and lack of potential predators, various species like blue bull and wild boar etc. have increased considerably and become locally overabundant in many states viz. Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, thereby causing serious problems which include damage to crops, economic losses and increased incidence of road mishaps due to vehicular collisions. Management of forest and wildlife is the responsibility of State Governments. As such State-wise and yearwise  data  of  such  incidents  are  not  collated  in  the  Ministry.  However,  the  data received in the Ministry from the States in National Tiger Conservation Authority and Project Elephant, indicating the death of human beings are at Annexure I (A) and I (B) respectively.
- (b) In order to mitigate incidence of human wildlife conflict, the Government has taken following important actions.

(i)  Advisories to the States: The Ministry has issued guidelines in context of humanwildlife  conflict  to  the  Chief  Wildlife  Wardens  of  all  the  State  Governments/Union Territory Administrations dated 24 th December, 2014 and 1 st June, 2015. The Ministry has  specially  advised  States/UTs,  to  seek  central  assistance  for  Human  Wildlife Conflict  including  if  required,  use  of  the  legal  provision  for  management  after objective assessment and analysis of the ground situation.

State  Governments  of  Bihar,  Uttarakhand  and  Himachal  Pradesh  requested  Central Govt.  to  include  problematic  wild  animals  like  blue  bulls,  wild  boar  and  rhesus macaque in Schedule V in accordance with section 62 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Ministry issued notifications classifying the species in Schedule V for limited period in specific areas.

(ii)  Augmentation  of  Fodder  and  Water  in  Protected  areas/Forest  Areas: The Ministry,  with  financial  assistance  from  Ad-hoc  Compensatory  Afforestation  Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), has formulated a scheme to provide assistance  to  the  States  for  'Augmentation  of  Fodder  and  Water  in  Protected areas/Forest Areas', aimed at improving habitat in the areas by making provision for augmenting grass, fodder and water to the wild herbivores which would decrease the frequency  of  wild  animals  coming  out  of  forest  in  search  of  food  and  water  and subsequent conflict situations.

- (c) The Ministry has received a research proposal titled 'Model implementation of crop damage  compensation  scheme'  from  the  Indian  Institute  of  Science  Education  and Research (IISER), Pune. The proposal aims to assess the monitoring and compensating crop damage caused by wild herbivores. Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve has  been  identified  as  one  of  the  sites  for  pilot  implementation  of  the  project.  The proposal has been endorsed to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Maharashtra.
- (d) States  have  their  own  rates  for ex-gratia relief  for  victims  of  wildlife  attack.  State Governments provide relief from their own funds as well from the assistance provided by Central Government for ex-gratia relief in respect of damage to crops and loss of human  lives  suffered  by  the  victims  of  depredations/attacks  by  wild  animals.  The details of amount paid as compensation and details of beneficiaries are not collated in the Ministry.

The Central Government provides financial assistance to the States/ Union Territory Governments under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes of 'Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats', 'Project Tiger' and 'Project Elephant', inter alia, to make payment of ex-gratia relief.

Ministry  has  issued  a  letter  no.  14-2/2011-WL-I(pt)  dated  21.11.2012  stating  the amount of ex-gratia relief for payment to the victims of predation/depredation by wild animals. The details are as follows:

| Sl. No.   | Nature of damage caused by wild animals   | Amount of ex-gratia relief                             |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| (a)       | Death or permanent incapacitation         | Rs. 2,00,000/-                                         |
| (b)       | Grievous injury                           | 30% of (a)                                             |
| (c)       | Minor injury                              | Cost of treatment                                      |
| (d)       | Loss of property                          | Value of loss/damage as assessed by authorized officer |

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ANNEXURE I (A) ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  NO. *198 REGARDING  'LOSSES DUE TO WILD ANIMALS'  BY DR.  RAMESH  POKHRIYAL  'NISHANK'  AND  SHRI  BHARAT SINGH DUE FOR REPLY ON 29.11.2016:

Details of incidents of tiger attacks on human beings during the last three years and the current year in and around tiger reserves as report by States

| S. No.   | State             |   2013-14 |   2014-15 |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |
|----------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |
| 3        | Assam             |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |
| 4        | Bihar             |         1 |         0 |         0 |         0 |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh      |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |
| 6        | Jharkhand         |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |
| 7        | Karnataka         |         5 |         3 |         2 |         0 |
| 8        | Kerala            |         0 |         1 |         1 |         0 |
| 9        | Madhya Pradesh    |         3 |         5 |         1 |         1 |
| 10       | Maharashtra       |         3 |         8 |         0 |         1 |
| 11       | Mizoram           |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |
| 12       | Odisha            |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |
| 13       | Rajasthan         |         0 |         0 |         1 |         0 |
| 14       | Tamil Nadu        |         3 |         1 |         1 |         0 |
| 15       | Telangana         |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |
| 16       | Uttar Pradesh     |         8 |         0 |         1 |         0 |
| 17       | Uttarakhand       |         4 |         0 |         1 |         2 |
| 18       | West Bengal       |         6 |        10 |         0 |         0 |
|          | TOTAL             |        33 |        28 |         8 |         4 |

## ANNEXURE I (B) Number of Human Deaths caused by elephant from 2009-2015.

|                   |   2009-10 |   2010-11 |   2011-12 |   2012-13 | 2013-14                  | 2014-15                  | 2015-16   |
|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------------------------|--------------------------|-----------|
| Andhra Pradesh    |         0 |         1 |         0 |         1 | 2                        | 2                        | NR        |
| Arunachal Pradesh |         0 |         0 |         1 |         0 | 7                        | 1                        | 1         |
| Assam             |        54 |        40 |        67 |        79 | 87                       | 54                       | 92        |
| Chhattisgarh      |        29 |        25 |        33 |        22 | 23                       | 32                       | NR        |
| Jharkhand         |        54 |        69 |        62 |        60 | 56                       | 53                       | 66        |
| Karnataka         |        24 |        33 |        14 |        37 | 33                       | 38                       | 26        |
| Kerala            |        11 |        22 |        15 |        13 | 7                        | 20                       | NR        |
| Maharashtra       |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 | 0                        | 3                        | 0         |
| Meghalaya         |         5 |         7 |         8 |         1 | 10                       | 3                        | 9         |
| Nagaland          |         2 |         0 |         0 |         0 | 0                        | 1                        | 1         |
| Odisha            |        82 |        61 |        41 |        83 | 67                       | 64                       | 63        |
| Tamil Nadu        |        34 |        37 |        47 |        50 | 52                       | 31                       | 47        |
| Tripura           |         1 |         0 |         0 |         0 | 0                        | 1                        | NR        |
| Uttar Pradesh     |         1 |         0 |         1 |         0 | Information not received | Information not received | NR        |
| Uttarakhand       |         9 |         8 |        16 |         7 | Information not received | Information not received | NR        |
| West Bengal       |        87 |        96 |        67 |        69 | 69                       | 89                       | 108       |
| Total             |       393 |       399 |       372 |       422 | 413                      | 392                      | 413       |

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