Lok Sabha Question No. 730 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-14
Subject: Wild Animals
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL, P.R. SUNDARAM, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 730

TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.12.2018

## Wild Animals

## 730. DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT:

SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO:

SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM:

SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK:

DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

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

- (a) whether  many  wild  animals  including  Tigers  and  elephants  have  been  killed  in controversial operations in the recent past;
- (b) if so, the details thereof indicating the number of such wild animals died/killed during the  last  two  years  and  the  current  year,  State/UT-wise  including  Tamil  Nadu  and Maharashtra;
- (c) whether the Government has constituted a central inquiry into the matter, if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
- (d) whether  the  Government  is  banking  on  an  Indo-German  Human  Wildlife  conflict mitigation project to halt animal deaths and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the States that are presently covered under the Indo-German pilot project and the time by which this project will be replicated at the national level?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) and (b) Management  of  wildlife  is  the  responsibility  of  the  concerned  State/UT Governments. Report of deaths of wild animals including tigers and elephants in the recent past are collated in the Ministry are given in the Annexure-I and Annexure-II.
- (c) As per information received by the National Tiger Conservation Authority. The rigor which goes into inquiry of tiger deaths in India is as follows:
- (i) No tiger death is entered into the database, unless an authentic source

from the State Government reports a tiger mortality.

- (ii) Even if a tiger death is reported from third party sources to the NTCA, a confirmation  is  obtained  from  the  State  before  recording  it.  It  is subsequently made available in public domain at www.tigernet.nic.in, at the earliest.
- (iii) All tiger deaths are dealt as per SOP issued by the NTCA in this regard (available in public domain)  under  suitable  provisions of India's Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.Non compliance is   viewed seriously and in certain cases, if the situation so warrants, an inquiry is instituted by the Regional Office of the NTCA.
- (iv) The  onus  of  proving  a  case  as  natural  or  poaching,  (with  adequate evidences like Necropsy report, Pathology report, Coloured photographs, Forensic reports and other report as per the SOP format)  rests with the State.
- (v) There may  be instances, wherein, the necropsy report provides clinching evidence to ascertain cause of death.
- (vi) However,  in  absence  of  such  evidences,  supporting  reports  as  listed above are used to come to a conclusion.
- (vii) This  analysis  is  done  at  the  NTCA  Headquarters  at  Delhi.  Once ascertained, a cause is finally   ascribed to a tiger's death. In the event of any doubt, in spite of the evidences, the case is closed as poaching.
- (d) &(e) The  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  &  Climate  Change  (MoEF&CC)  in partnership  with  the  German  Development  Cooperation  (through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)) has approved the IndoGerman technical cooperation project on 'Human Wildlife Conflict Mitigation in India'. The project aims at providing technical support to the Government of India at the National level and in selected sites as pilot States like Karnataka, Uttarakhand and West Bengal only.

*****

## Annexure-II

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) AND (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  730  REGARDING  'WILD  ANIMALS'  BY  DR. HEENA  VIJAYKUMAR  GAVIT,  SHRI  SATAV  RAJEEV,  SHRI  MOHITE  PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO, SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM, SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK, DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN AND SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE DUE FOR REPLY ON 14.12.2018.

| S.No.   | State         |   2016-17 | 2017-18   | 2018-19 (Upto 15.11.2018)   |
|---------|---------------|-----------|-----------|-----------------------------|
| 1       | Assam         |        10 | 14        |                             |
| 2       | West Bengal   |         3 | 2         | 6                           |
| 3       | Tamil Nadu    |         2 | 0         | 0                           |
| 4       | Jharkhand     |         2 | 0         |                             |
| 5       | Kerala        |         2 | 0         |                             |
| 6       | Odisha        |         0 | 2         | 5                           |
| 7       | Tripura       |         0 | 0         |                             |
| 8       | Uttarakhand   |         2 | NR        |                             |
| 9       | Uttar Pradesh |         0 | 0         |                             |
| 10      | Karnataka     |         0 | 1         | 2                           |
|         | Total         |        21 | 19        | 13                          |

ELEPHANT CASUALTIES IN TRAIN ACCIDENTS DURING LAST TWO YEARS AND CURRENT YEAR

## ELEPHANT CASUALTIES BY ELECTROCUTION DURING LAST TWO YEARS AND CURRENT YEAR

| S.No.   | State                | 2016-17   | 2017-18   | 2018-19 (Upto 15.11.2018)   |
|---------|----------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------------------------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh 1     | 0         | 2         |                             |
| 2       | Arunachal Pradesh NR |           | NR        |                             |
| 3       | Assam                | 10        | 24        |                             |
| 4       | Chhattisgarh         | 3         | 2         |                             |
| 5       | Jharkhand            | 0         | 1         |                             |
| 6       | Karnataka            | 6         | 10        | 6                           |
| 7       | Kerala               | 5         | 4         |                             |
| 8       | Maharashtra          | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 9       | Meghalaya            | 1         | 3         | 1                           |
| 10      | Nagaland             | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 11      | Odisha               | 6         | 9         | 18                          |
| 12      | Tamil Nadu           | 7         | 3         | 6                           |
| 13      | Tripura              | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 14      | Uttar Pradesh        | 3         | 0         |                             |
| 15      | Uttarakhand          | 4         | NR        |                             |
| 16      | West Bengal          | 9         | 2         | 2                           |
|         | Total                | 55        | 58        | 35                          |

| S.No             | State 2016-17   | 2017-18   | 2018-19 (Upto 15.11.2018)   |
|------------------|-----------------|-----------|-----------------------------|
| 1 Andhra         | Pradesh 0       | 0 0       |                             |
| 2 Arunachal      | Pradesh NR      | NR        |                             |
| 3 Assam          | 0               | 5         |                             |
| 4 Chhattisgarh   | 0               | 0         |                             |
| 5 Jharkhand      | 0               | 2         |                             |
| 6 Karnataka      | 4               | 0         | 0                           |
| 7 Kerala         | 2               | 0         |                             |
| 8 Maharashtra    | 0               | 0         |                             |
| 9 Meghalaya      | 1               | 0         | 0                           |
| 10 Nagaland      | 2               | 1         |                             |
| 11 Odisha        | 2               | 2         | 3                           |
| 12 Tamil Nadu    | 0               | 0         | 0                           |
| 13 Tripura       | 0               | 0         |                             |
| 14 Uttar Pradesh | 0               | 0         |                             |
| 15               | Uttarakhand 0   | NR        |                             |
| 16               | West Bengal 1   | 0         | 0                           |
|                  | Total 12        | 10        | 3                           |

## ELEPHANT DEATHS BY POACHING DURING LAST TWO YEARS AND CURRENT YEAR

| S. No.   | State             | 2016-17   | 2017-18   | 2018-19 (Upto 15.11.2018)   |
|----------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    | 0         | 0         | 0                           |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh | NR        | NR        |                             |
| 3        | Assam             | 2         | 8         |                             |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh      | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 5        | Jharkhand         | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 6        | Karnataka         | 0         | 1         | 0                           |
| 7        | Kerala            | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 8        | Maharashtra       | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 9        | Meghalaya         | 0         | 0         | 0                           |
| 10       | Nagaland          | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 11       | Odisha            | 0         | 1         | 0                           |
| 12       | Tamil Nadu        | 0         | 0         | 0                           |
| 13       | Tripura           | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 14       | Uttar Pradesh     | 0         | 0         |                             |
| 15       | Uttarakhand       | 0         | NR        |                             |
| 16       | West Bengal       | 0         | 0         | 0                           |
| Total    |                   | 2         | 10        | 0                           |

ELEPHANT DEATHS BY POISONING DURING LAST TWO YEARS AND CURRENT YEAR

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) AND (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  730  REGARDING  'WILD  ANIMALS'  BY  DR.  HEENA  VIJAYKUMAR  GAVIT, SHRI SATAV RAJEEV, SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO, SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM, SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK, DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN AND SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE DUE FOR REPLY ON 14.12.2018.

Details of tiger mortality during the last two years and current year

| S. No. S. No.   | Name of States/ Name of States/     | Number of tiger mortality Number of tiger mortality   | Number of tiger mortality Number of tiger mortality   | Number of tiger mortality Number of tiger mortality   |
|-----------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
| S. No. S. No.   | Name of States/ Name of States/     | 2016                                                  | 2017                                                  | 2018 (Upto 04.12.2018)                                |
| 1.              | Andhra Pradesh                      | -                                                     | 1                                                     | 1                                                     |
| 2.              | Arunachal Pradesh                   | 1                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 3.              | Assam                               | 7                                                     | 16                                                    | -                                                     |
| 4.              | Bihar                               | 4                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 5.              | Chhattisgarh                        | 2                                                     | 2                                                     | -                                                     |
| 6.              | Goa                                 | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 7.              | Gujarat                             | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 8.              | Haryana                             | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 9.              | Himachal Pradesh                    | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 10.             | Jammu &Kashmir                      | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 11.             | Jharkhand                           | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 12.             | Karnataka                           | 17                                                    | 16                                                    | 10                                                    |
| 13.             | Kerala                              | 5                                                     | 2                                                     | 2                                                     |
| 14.             | Madhya Pradesh                      | 32                                                    | 22                                                    | 13                                                    |
| 15.             | Maharashtra                         | 15                                                    | 21                                                    | 4                                                     |
| 16.             | Manipur                             | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 17.             | Meghalaya                           | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 18.             | Mizoram                             | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 19.             | Nagaland                            | 1                                                     | -                                                     | 1                                                     |
| 20.             | Orissa                              | 1                                                     | 1                                                     | 1                                                     |
| 21.             | Punjab                              | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 22.             | Rajasthan                           | 2                                                     | 1                                                     | 6                                                     |
| 23.             | Sikkim                              | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 24.             | Tamil Nadu                          | 8                                                     | 3                                                     | 4                                                     |
| 25.             | Tripura                             | -                                                     | -                                                     | 4                                                     |
| 26.             | Uttar Pradesh                       | 4                                                     | 8                                                     | 3                                                     |
| 27.             | Uttarakhand                         | 14                                                    | 16                                                    | -                                                     |
| 28.             | West Bengal                         | 1                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 29.             | Andaman &Nicobar Islands            | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 30.             | Chandigarh                          | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 31.             | Dadra &Nagar Haveli                 | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 32.             | Daman &Diu                          | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 33.             | Lakshadweep                         | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 34.             | National Capital Territory of Delhi | 2                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 35.             | Puducherry                          | -                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |
| 36.             | Telangana                           | 2                                                     | -                                                     | -                                                     |