Lok Sabha Question No. 3312 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-12
Subject: Elephant Census
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Pratima Bhoumik

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3312

TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.07.2019

## Elephant Census

## 3312.  SHRIMATI PRATIMA BHOMIK:

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

- (a) the total elephant population as per the last synchronized elephant census undertaken in the country;
- (b) whether there is any increase or decline in the  elephant population in comparison to the previous census, and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the State-wise elephant population enumerated in all the seven North-Eastern States during this census;
- (d) whether the elephant population has been found commensurate with adequate sightings/enlistments of infant & sub-adult population during the census operations and if so, the details thereof and the expenditure involved in undertaking synchronized population census;
- (e) the  number  of  casualties  reported  in  straying  of  elephants  in  seven  North-Eastern  States during the last five years along with the steps/actions taken in mitigating the casualties due to straying of the elephants; and
- (f) whether there is any risk of in-breeding of Indian elephants in the North- Eastern States and if so, the details thereof and the steps taken to resolve the said issues?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a) The  total  elephant  population  in  the  country  as  per  the  last  synchronized  elephant estimation  conducted  in  2017  is  29964.    The  figures  is  based  on  the  analysis  of  data collected by the 'Direct Count Method', using 30-50% sampling, in most major elephant stats  of  the  country.    Figures  for  Tripura,  Nagaland,  Andaman  &  Nicobars  Islands  and Kerala are based on the 'Indirect Dung Count Method'.
- (b) The elephant census figures reported during the previous enumeration in the year 2012 was in the range of 29391-30711. The present figure of 29964 in the year 2017 falls within this range indicating a relatively stable population over the past five years.
- (c) The state-wise elephant population enumerated in all the seven North-Eastern states during 2017 is given below:
- (d) Yes sir. The elephant populations have been found to have a healthy reproductive rate as seen from the percentage of infants and sub-adults. The  expenditure involved in undertaking All India Synchronized Elephant Population 2017 is Rs 300.86 Lakhs.
- (e) Details  of  casualties  reported  due  to  straying  of  elephants  in  seven  North  Eastern  State, during the last five years, is given in Annexure .  The steps/action taken under the Centrally Sponsored  Scheme  'Project  Elephant'  to  mitigate  the  causalities  due  to  straying  of  the elephants are:
- i. Financial  and  technical  assistance  is  provided  to  elephant  range  states  under  the  Centrally Sponsored Schemes 'Project Elephant', to protect elephants,  their  habitat  and corridors,  to address issues of man-elephant conflict and welfare of captive elephants.
- ii. Notification of the critical elephant habitats as 'Elephant Reserves' for better management of wild elephants.
- iii. Construction/erecting of physical barriers, such as barbed wire fence, solar powered electric fence, bio-fencing using cactus, boundary wall etc. to prevent entry of wild animals into crop field.
- iv. All  the  elephant  state  has  been  directed  to  implement  the  Guidelines  for  Management  of Human Elephant Conflict issued by the Ministry on 6.10.2017.
- v. Works like creation of water sources, plantation of fruiting trees, pasture development, fire protection etc. are being done to enrich elephant habitat so that elephants can be retained in their habitat.
- vi. Regular and extensive patrolling of elephant areas by frontline filed staff of the State Forest Departments is done so that elephants can be retained in their habitat.
- vii. To reduce man-elephant conflict and to avoid retaliatory killing of elephants, compensation is provided to local communities for loss of their property and life caused by wild elephants.
- viii. Forest Department is engaging local communities as animal trackers to know the movement of elephants and also to caution local people to avoid man-animal conflict and to prevent the elephant to their natural habitat.
- ix. Wildlife Institute of India in consultation with the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change,  National  Highway  Authority,  National  Tiger  Conservation  Authority  and  World Bank Group has published a document namely ' Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts of Linear Infrastructure' to assist the project agencies of linear infrastructure in designing the linear infrastructure in a manner which will reduce human-animal conflicts in the areas where these linear infrastructures are passing through Protected Areas and other wildlife areas.
- (f) No  sir,  there  is  no  risk  at  present  of  inbreeding  of  elephants  across  the  North  Eastern region.

| REGION                          | STATE             |   ELEPHANT POPULATION 2017 |
|---------------------------------|-------------------|----------------------------|
| North-East                      | Arunachal Pradesh |                       1614 |
|                                 | Assam             |                       5719 |
|                                 | Meghalaya         |                       1754 |
|                                 | Nagaland          |                        446 |
|                                 | Mizoram           |                          7 |
|                                 | Manipur           |                          9 |
|                                 | Tripura           |                        102 |
| Total for North- Eastern Region |                   |                       9651 |

## ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (e)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  3312  RAISED  BY  SHRIMATI  PRATIMA  BHOMIK REGARDING 'ELEPHANT CENSUS' DUE FOR REPLY ON 12.07.2019.

## Number of Casualties Reported in Straying of Elephant in Seven North-Eastern States during last five years from 2014-15 to 2018-2019

| STATE             | Year wise Elephant Death   | Year wise Elephant Death   | Year wise Elephant Death   | Year wise Elephant Death   | Year wise Elephant Death   | Year wise Human Death   | Year wise Human Death   | Year wise Human Death   | Year wise Human Death   | Year wise Human Death   |
|-------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| STATE             | 2014- 15                   | 2015- 16                   | 2016- 17                   | 2017- 18                   | 2018- 19                   | 2014- 15                | 2015- 16                | 2016- 17                | 2017- 18                | 2018- 19                |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 1                       | 1                       | NR                      | NR                      | 0                       |
| Assam             | 20                         | 18                         | 27                         | 44                         | 19                         | 54                      | 31                      | 91                      | 72                      | 84                      |
| Meghalaya         | 4                          | 1                          | 2                          | 3                          | 1                          | 5                       | 6                       | 5                       | 7                       | 3                       |
| Nagaland          | 0                          | 4                          | 0                          | 1                          | 4                          | 1                       | 1                       | 1                       | 0                       | 1                       |
| Mizoram           | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       |
| Manipur           | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       |
| Tripura           | 1                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 0                          | 1                       | 0                       | 2                       | 0                       | 0                       |

* NR- Information not received from State.