Lok Sabha Question No. 395 (STARRED), answered on 2019-07-19
Subject: Decline in Population of Vultures
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Bidyut Baran Mahato, Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. *395

TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.07.2019

## Decline in Population of Vultures

## *395.   SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO: SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

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

- (a) whether the Government has carried out any survey on species of vultures and if so, the details of the said survey;
- (b) whether the population of certain species of vultures has declined more than 90 percent in many parts of the country, if so, the details thereof and the reasons for the same;
- (c) whether  any  Vulture  Breeding  Centres  have  been  set  up  by  the  Government  in collaboration  with  State  Governments  which  are  working  for  its  conservation  in  the country;
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  Central  financial  assistance  sanctioned  for  the purpose during each of the last three years and the current year; and
- (e) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government for protection and conservation of species of vultures?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a), (b), (c), (d) and (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 THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *395 REGARDING DECLINE IN POPULATION OF VULTURES RAISED BY SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO AND SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR DUE FOR REPLY ON 19.07.2019.

- (a) & (b) Nation-wide vulture surveys are carried out by Bombay Natural Society (BNHS) every  four  year  sponsored  by the  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate Change and the Forest Departments of various States since 1990. The surveys are carried  out  mainly  for  three  species  of  critically  endangered  resident  Gyps vultures, White-backed Vulture, Long-billed Vulture and Slender-billed Vulture. These  three  species  were  very  common  in  the  Country  with  an  estimated population of  40 million in early eighties.  Based on the latest survey carried out in the year 2015 and the results published in 2017,  there were about 6000 Whitebacked Vultures, 12000 Long-billed Vultures and 1000 Slender-billed Vultures.

There has been a sharp decline in the vulture populations. The crash in population was first noticed in the mid nineties and by 2007, there was a 99% decline in the population  of  three  resident  Gyps  species  of  vulture.  By  the  year  2011,  the population though very small appeared to be establishing but during the year 2015, it  was noticed that the White-backed Vulture population was still stable but was still declining for Long-billed Vulture.

The  major  cause  of  mortality  of  vultures  was  found  to  be  the  veterinary  nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug 'Diclofenac', given to cattle in pain and inflammation. The 'Diclofenac' was found to be extremely toxic to vultures and causes  renal  failure.  The  Government  of  India  banned  the  veterinary   use of the drug in the year 2006 which was Gazetted in the year 2008 but the misuse of the multi-dose  vials  of  human  formulation  of  the  drug  in  treating  cattle  was  still causing mortality in vulture. The Government of India in the year 2015 imposed a restriction and directed that only vials of 3 ML of 'Diclofenac' could be used for human consumption instead of 30 ML earlier.

- (c ) & (d) For Ex-situ conservation  of  vultures,  eight  (08)  Vulture  Conservation  Breeding Centres were established in the different States of the country.

Four  of  the  centres,   Pinjore  in  Haryana  (established  in  2004),  Rajabhatkhawa (established  in  2006)  in  West  Bengal,  Rani  in  Assam  (established  in  2009)  and Kerwa near Bhopal (established in 2008) are  managed   by respective State Forest Departments with support from Bombay Natural History Society and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Four  more  centres  i.e.  Junagarh  in  Gujarat  (established  2006),  Nandankanan  in Odisha (established 2006), Hyderabad in Telangana (established 2006) and Muta in  Ranchi  are  established  in  the  State  Zoos  and  are  being  run  by  State  Forest Department with support from Central  Zoo Authority (CZA) of MoEF&CC and technical support from Bombay Natural History Society.

The Ministry has been providing financial support for the Vulture Conservation to different States under the Recovery Programme for Vultures under the Component 'Recovery  programme  for  saving  critically  endangered  species  and  habitats'  of CSS-Development of Wildlife Habitats.

Year-wise  details  of  funds  (Rs  Lakh)  released  for  Vulture  conservation  is  as follows:

(Amount Rs. in lakhs)

| S.No   | States      | FY 2016-17   | FY 2017-18   | FY 2018-19   | Current FY 2019-20   |
|--------|-------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|----------------------|
| i      | Punjab      | -            | -            | -            | -                    |
| ii     | Haryana     | 116.0472     | 181.4448     | 122.304      | -                    |
| iii.   | Kerala      | 16.58        | 21.792       | 25.498       | -                    |
| iv.    | West Bengal | -            | 79.44        | 110.04       | -                    |
| v.     | Uttarakhand | -            | 580.23       | -            | -                    |

The  Ministry  has  sanctioned  a  project  to  Indian  Veterinary  Research  Institute (IVRI),  Uttar  Pradesh  titled  'Assessing  the  safety  to  vulture  ( Gyps spp .)  of  non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID's) in veterinary use in India'. The total project  cost  is  Rs.  2.71  Cr  for  a  period  of  3  years.  The  project  is  being implemented  by  IVRI  in  collaboration  with  Bombay  Natural  History  Society (BNHS). An amount of Rs. 30.00 lakh has been released to IVRI as part of the installment during the FY 2018-19.

- (e) The steps taken by Government for protection and conservation of Vultures in the country includes:
- i. Protection status of White backed, Long Billed and Slender Billed Vultures has  been  upgraded  from  Schedule  IV  to  Schedule  I  of  the  Wild  Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- ii. To conserve the remnant population of vultures in the country and also to facilitate the reintroduction of vultures into the wild from Vulture Conservation  Breeding  Centres  (VCBCs),  attempts  are  being  made  to create Vulture Safe Zones in the areas where there are vulture populations. The  area  in  a  radius  of  100  km  around  the  VCBCs  is  made  secure  by community participation by ensuring that there is no use of vulture toxic veterinary NSAID's, there is enough food and habitat and there is no other threat  to  vultures.  This  is  done  by  targeted  advocacy  and  awareness programme.
- iii. There  are  eight  (08)  identified  vulture  safe  zones  in  the  Country  which includes  Pinjore  in  Haryana,  Rajabhatkhawa  in  West  Bengal,  around Majuli  Island  in  Assam,  Bukswaha  in  Bundelkhand,  Madhya  Pradesh, Dudhwa  National  Park  and  Katerniaghat  Wildlife  Sanctuary  in  Uttar Pradesh,  Hazaribagh  in  Jharkhand,  Central  Gujarat  and  Saurashtra  in Gujarat.
- iv. The Ministry has also taken initiatives to strengthen the mass education and awareness for vulture conservation in the Country.
- v. The Government of India has formulated a National Action Plan (2006) on Vulture Conservation.  The Action Plan provides for strategies, actions for containing the decline of vulture population through ex-situ, in-situ vulture conservation.
- vi. The Government of India banned the veterinary use of the drug 'Diclofenac'  which  was  found  to  be  the  cause  of  vulture  mortality  and crash in vulture population.
- vii. The Government of India also restricted the packaging size of the human formulation  of  the  diclofenac  drug  to  3ml  in  July  2015  to  prevent  the misuse of multi-dose vials available in 30 ml presentation in treating cattle.
- viii. Department of forests of all states/UTs has been requested to constitute a Monitoring committee for vulture conservation with a view to implement the Action Plan, 2006 and for recovery of existing vulture sites.
- ix. The Ministry has initiated the Vulture reintroduction programme. As part of  it,  two  Himalayan  Griffon  Vultures  were  released  from  the  Vulture Breeding Centre, Pinjore, Haryana in the year 2016.
- x. The Ministry has reconstituted the 'National Vulture Recovery Committee' to oversee and guide vulture conservation and recovery efforts at the National Level.
- xi. Testing  of  'Non  Steroidal  Anti-Inflammatory  Drugs'  (NSAID's)  on Vultures  ( Gyps  spp .)  is  being  carried  out  by  Indian  Veterinary  Research Institute (IVRI), Uttar Pradesh with support from the Ministry and BNHS.