Lok Sabha Question No. 157 (STARRED), answered on 2018-07-27
Subject: Vermin Animals
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: RAOSAHEB PATIL DANVE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *157

TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.07.2018

## Vermin Animals

## *157:   SHRI RAOSAHEB DANVE PATIL:

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

- (a) the animals which have been placed in the category of vermin/violent animals under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972;
- (b) the  provisions  for  providing  compensation  for  the  damage  caused  to  crops  and  human beings by the said animals along with the details of compensation paid for the incidents occurred during the last two years and the current year, State/UT wise;
- (c) whether Nilgai has also been placed in the category of vermin/violent animals and if so, the reasons therefor along with the details of the damage caused by Nilgai;
- (d) the number of incidents of damage caused to crops, lives and properties by monkeys in the country, State/UT-wise; and
- (e) the  steps  taken  to  conserve  wild  life  and  check/reduce  the  loss  caused  to  human  lives, crops and properties by wild animals?

## ANSWER

MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

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

***

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a), (b), (c), (d) AND (e) OF LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  *157  REGARDING  'VERMIN  ANIMALS' BY SHRI RAOSAHEB DANVE PATIL DUE FOR REPLY ON 27.07.2018.

- (a) The animals placed in the category of vermin under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 include (i) common crow (ii) fruits bats (iii) mice and (iv) rats. Under Section 62 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 the Central Government can be declare any wild animal other than those in Schedule I and part II Schedule II as vermin for specified period for any area.
- (b) State  Governments are  responsible for providing compensation for damage caused to crops  and  human  being  by  the  wild  animals.  However,  the  Ministry  also  provides financial assistance to State/Union Territory Governments under the Centrally Sponsored  Schemes  of  'Integrated  Development  of  Wildlife  Habitats',  'Project  Tiger' and 'Project  Elephant'  for  management  of  wildlife  and  its  habitats  which  includes compensation for depredation by wild animals including cattle lifting, crop damage, loss of life and property.

Ministry has recently, raised the Ex-gratia rates in connection with wildlife depredation vide  letter  No.  14-2/2011  WL-I  (part)  dated  9 th February,  2018.  The  enhanced compensation amount are as follows:

| Sl. No.   | Nature of damage caused by wild animals   | Amount of ex-gratia relief                                            |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| (a)       | Death or permanent incapacitation         | Rs. 5,00,000/-                                                        |
| (b)       | Grievous injury                           | Rs. 2,00,000/-                                                        |
| (c)       | Minor injury                              | Cost of treatment up to Rs. 25000/- per person                        |
| (d)       | Loss of property/crops                    | State/UT Governments may adhere to the cost norms prescribed by them. |

The details of financial assistance including that for compensation for damage to crops, loss of human life/injury to human being, released to the State/UTs under these schemes during last two years and current year is given in the Annexure .

- (c) As per the request of State Government of Bihar, the  Ministry had issued a notification for declaring Nilgai as vermin vide S. O. 3318 (E) dated on 1 st December, 2015 for a period of one year. However, details of damage caused by Nilgai are not compiled at the level of Central Government.
- (d) The management of such conflict is handled by concerned State/UT Governments. The number of incidents of damage caused to crops, lives and properties by monkeys are not collated by the Ministry.
- (e) The steps taken by Governments to  conserve wild life and check/reduce the loss caused to human lives, crops and properties by wild animals are:
- i. A network of Protected Areas namely viz., National Park, Wildlife Sanctuaries,

Conservation  Reserves  and  Community  Reserve  covering  important  wildlife habitat have been created all over the country under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to conserve wild animals and their habitats.

- ii. The Ministry has issued guidelines in context of human-wildlife 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 specifically sought proposal from States/UTs, after objective assessment of the situation,  details  of  the  areas  in  which  it  is  essential  to  reduce  the  overpopulation of wild animals for specified period.
- iii. Construction/erecting  of  physical  barriers,  such  as  barbed  wire  fence,  solar powered electric fence, bio-fencing using cactus, boundary wall etc. to prevent the entry of wild animals into crop field.
- iv. 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. So as to check the loss caused to by wild animals.
- v. The  Ministry  has  notified  enhancement  of ex-gratia rates  related  wildlife depredation vide letter No. 14-2/2011 WL-I (part) dated 9 th February, 2018.
- vi. The  Ministry  has  approved  a  pilot  project  on  the  immuno-contraception  for controlling the population of wild animals responsible for damage  and destruction of crops, namely; elephant, wild boar, monkey, and nilgai.
- vii. The Ministry has also initiated  a  human  wildlife  conflict  mitigation  project  in collaboration with the GIZ.
- viii. To mitigate the impact of wildlife conflict along the linear infrastructures like rail  tracks,  roads/highways  and  power  transmission  lines  passing  through  the Protected Areas and other wildlife rich areas, Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife has recommended that all linear infrastructure development Agencies,  while  submitting  the  proposal  for  use  of    Protected  Areas  for  the purpose of linear infrastructure Projects, shall submit wild animals passage plan based  on  the  WII  Guideline  'Eco-Friendly  Measures  to  Mitigate  Impacts  of linear  infrastructure  on  Wildlife'.  These  guideline  suggest  for  modification  in the  designs  of  the  linear  infrastructures  by  way  of  providing  eco-friendly structure  which  will  ensure  safe  movement  of  wildlife  across  these  linear infrastructures.
- ix. Periodic awareness campaigns to sensitize guide and advise the general public on man-animal conflict, including dissemination of information through various forms of media.

****

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION  NO.  *157  REGARDING  'VERMIN  ANIMALS'  BY SHRI  RAOSAHEB DANVE PATIL DUE FOR REPLY ON 27.07.2018.

## Details of funds released to State/ UT Governments under CSS-'Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats' during last two years and current year

## (Rs. in lakhs)

| S. No.   | Name of States/UTs   |   2016-17 |    2017-18 |   2018-19 (As on 24.07.2018 ) |
|----------|----------------------|-----------|------------|-------------------------------|
| 1        | A&NIslands           |  118.49   |   141.935  |                        97.376 |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh       |    0      |     0      |                         0     |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh    |  256.811  |   269.935  |                         0     |
| 4        | Assam                |    0      |   275.827  |                         0     |
| 5        | Bihar                |  100.576  |   322.674  |                         0     |
| 6        | Chandigarh           |   26.0651 |    26.0651 |                         0     |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh         |  278.945  |   435.015  |                         0     |
| 8        | Goa                  |    0      |    85.9938 |                         0     |
| 9        | Gujarat              |  497.604  |   558.52   |                         0     |
| 10       | Haryana              |  124.657  |   181.445  |                         0     |
| 11       | Himachal Pradesh     |  280.31   |   237.411  |                         0     |
| 12       | Jammu &Kashmir       |  336.506  |   577.915  |                         0     |
| 13       | Jharkhand            |    0      |    95.607  |                         0     |
| 14       | Karnataka            |  325.52   |   427.89   |                         0     |
| 15       | Kerala               | 1928.42   |   900.834  |                       549.633 |
| 16       | Madhya Pradesh       |  322.265  |  1379.49   |                         0     |
| 17       | Maharashtra          |  497.35   |   808.056  |                         0     |
| 18       | Manipur              |  340.032  |   425.664  |                         0     |
| 19       | Meghalaya            |   55.23   |   114.061  |                         0     |
| 20       | Mizoram              | 1234.95   |   487.445  |                       274.7   |
| 21       | Nagaland             |  357.846  |   565.871  |                       109.371 |
| 22       | Odisha               |  279.65   |   342.937  |                       397.75  |
| 23       | Rajasthan            |  453.879  |   622.422  |                       541.246 |
| 24       | Sikkim               |  145.52   |   202.154  |                         0     |
| 25       | Tamil Nadu           |    0      |   394.725  |                       327.098 |
| 26       | Telangana            |    0      |   157.083  |                         0     |
| 27       | Uttar Pradesh        |  250.956  |   386.968  |                         0     |
| 28       | Uttarakhand          |  545.306  |  2979.36   |                         0     |
| 29       | West Bengal          |  237.66   |   657.992  |                         0     |
| 30       | Puducherry           |    0      |     6.71   |                         0     |
| 31       | MEE-Uttarakhand      |    0      |   932      |                        83.25  |
|          | TOTAL                | 8994.55   | 15000      |                      2380.42  |

## Annexure

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION  NO.  *157  REGARDING  'VERMIN  ANIMALS'  BY SHRI  RAOSAHEB DANVE PATIL DUE FOR REPLY ON 27.07.2018.

## Funding assistance provided to 'Project Tiger' under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme State-wise during last two years and current year

(Rs. in lakhs)

| Sl. No.   | State             | 2016-17     | 2017-18   | 2018-19 (as on 23.07.2018)   |
|-----------|-------------------|-------------|-----------|------------------------------|
| Sl. No.   | State             | Released    | Released  | Released                     |
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh    | 173.48600   | 232.49    | 162.178                      |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh | 597.28900   | 671.0222  |                              |
| 3         | Assam             | 1510.92100  | 2309.608  |                              |
| 4         | Bihar             | 487.83800   | 552.273   |                              |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh      | 626.56700   | 1315.076  |                              |
| 6         | Jharkhand         | 323.76200   | 338.62    | 293.45                       |
| 7         | Karnataka         | 3203.61440  | 2308.846  | 1764.964                     |
| 8         | Kerala            | 780.23100   | 636.412   |                              |
| 9         | Madhya Pradesh    | 12885.59790 | 11455.457 |                              |
| 10        | Maharashtra       | 8229.71800  | 6524.165  |                              |
| 11        | Mizoram           | 301.54800   | 215.316   |                              |
| 12        | Odisha            | 917.16700   | 1646.127  |                              |
| 13        | Rajasthan         | 381.30200   | 773.09    |                              |
| 14        | Tamil Nadu        | 949.86900   | 2551.058  |                              |
| 15        | Telangana         | 239.25900   | 350.416   |                              |
| 16        | Uttarakhand       | 1023.40300  | 1187.439  |                              |
| 17        | Uttar Pradesh     | 1057.04500  | 820.074   |                              |
| 18        | West Bengal       | 536.14070   | 597.5808  |                              |
| 19        | Goa               | 0.00000     | 10.88     |                              |
| 20        | Manipur           | 0.00000     | 2.70      |                              |
| 21        | Nagaland          | 0.00000     | 1.35      |                              |
|           | Total             | 34224.7580  | 34500.000 | 2220.592                     |

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION  NO.  *157  REGARDING  'VERMIN  ANIMALS'  BY SHRI  RAOSAHEB DANVE PATIL DUE FOR REPLY ON 27.07.2018.

## STATE WISE FUND RELEASED UNDER CENTRAL SPONSORED SCHEME (CSS) OF PROJECT ELEPHANT

(Amount Rs. in Lakh)

| Sl. No   | State/UTs      | 2016-17    | 2017-18    | 2018-19   |
|----------|----------------|------------|------------|-----------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh | 13.62282   | 17.394     |           |
| 2        | Arunachal Pr.  | 100.062    | 118.8504   |           |
| 3        | Assam          | 275.6668   | -          |           |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh   | 61.1624    | 48.00      |           |
| 5        | Jharkhand      | 95.7704    | 105.5184   |           |
| 6        | Karnataka      | 254.80     | 355.5484   | 309.3044  |
| 7        | Kerala         | 429.8712   | 482.55     | 363.13    |
| 8        | Maharashtra    | 14.335     | 27.00      |           |
| 9        | Meghalaya      | 130.266    | 162.849    |           |
| 10       | Nagaland       | 20.3143    | 25.20      | 35.136    |
| 11       | Odisha         | 284.0342   | 124.8382   | 197.28    |
| 12       | Tamil Nadu     | 25.80      | 291.92     | 231.198   |
| 13       | Tripura        | 22.464     | 10.08      |           |
| 14       | Uttar Pr.      | 14.174     | 30.672     | 20.244    |
| 15       | Uttarakhand    | 175.4576   | 341.563    |           |
| 16       | West Bengal    | 101.45     | 79.93022   |           |
| 17       | Haryana        | -          | 17.76      | 8.385     |
| 18       | Bihar          | 16.2904    | 154.40     |           |
| 19       | Rajasthan      | 15.84      | 14.454     | 12.6596   |
| 20       | Punjab         | 1.825      | -          |           |
| 21       | Madhya Pradesh | 6.8442     | -          | 3.4978    |
| 22       | Manipur        | -          | 10.80      | 9.072     |
|          | Total          | 2060.05032 | 2419.32762 | 1189.9068 |

****