Lok Sabha Question No. 1913 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-12
Subject: Attacks by Wild Animals
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Raju Bista

## 1913.SHRI RAJU BISTA:

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

- (a) the details of human lives lost due to attacks by wild animals in various States during the last five years, State/UT-wise including districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong,  Alipurduars, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and North Dinajpur of West Bengal;
- (b) the details of provisions to support such individuals/families that face attack on their life, farm or property by wild animals;
- (c) the details of compensation released, if any, since 2015 to the victims in the districts of Darjeeling,  Kalimpong,  Alipurduar,    Jalpaiguri,  Cooch  Behar  and  North  Dinajpur  of West Bengal; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to control/prevent such human-animal conflict?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) and (c) The  management  of  forests  and  wildlife  is  primarily  the  responsibility  of  the concerned  State/UT  Governments.  As  per  the  information  available  with  the Ministry,  the  details  of  human  lives  lost  due  to  attacks  by  tigers  and  elephants during the last five years in the country are given at Annexure-I and II .

As per the information provided by Government of West Bengal,details of human lives lost due to attacks by wild animals and details of compensation paid for loss of  human  life  and  property  in  the  last  five  years  in  the  districts  of  Darjeeling, Kalimpong,  Alipurduar,  Jalpaiguri,  Cooch  Behar  and  North  Dinajpur  of  West Bengal are given at Annexures III and IV.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1913 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.02.2021

## Attacks by Wild Animals

- (b) The  Ministry  provides  financial  assistance  to  States/UTs  under  the  Centrally Sponsored Schemes of 'Development of Wildlife Habitats', 'Project Tiger' and 'Project Elephant' for management  of wildlife and its habitats in the country,including compensation due to depredation by wild animals.The Ministry has enhanced the ex-gratia relief payable under CentrallySponsored Schemes inthe year 2018as follows:
- (d) The  steps  taken  by  Government  of  India  to  manage  and  mitigate  human-animal conflict in the country include:
- i. The  Ministry  has  issued  an  Advisory  to  deal  with  Human  wildlife  conflict  to States/UTs on 06.02.2021.
- ii. The  Ministry  provides  financial  assistance  to  States/UTs  under  the  Centrally Sponsored  Schemes  of  'Development  of  Wildlife  Habitats',  'Project  Tiger' and 'Project  Elephant'  for  management  of  wildlife  and  its  habitats  in  the country.  The  broad  activities  supported  under  these  schemes include  habitat enrichment, water augmentation.
- iii. Funds are also allocated for construction /erection of physical barriers such as solar powered electric fence , bio-fencing using cactus, boundary walls, animal proof trenches around forests etc.
- iv. The financial support to the States/UTs also includes a component of compensation due to damage by wild animals.
- v. Voluntary relocation of villages from the core area of Tiger Reserves, National Parks  and  Sanctuaries  are  also  being  funded  under  the  Centrally  Sponsored Scheme: 'Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats' as proposed by the State

| S. No.   | Nature of damage caused by wild animals           | Amount of ex-gratia relief                                             |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| (a)      | Death or permanent incapacitation to human beings | Rs.5 lakh                                                              |
| (b)      | Grievous injury                                   | Rs. 2 lakh                                                             |
| (c)      | Minor injury                                      | Cost of treatment upto Rs 25000/-                                      |
| (d)      | Loss of property/crops                            | States /UT Governments may adhere to the cost norms prescribed by them |

Governments for avoiding conflict.

- vi. Periodic awareness campaigns to sensitize, guide and advise the general public on man-animal conflict, including dissemination of information through various forms of media.
- vii. Directions have been sent to all States/Union Territories for use of undergrounding of cables upto  33  KV  of  electricity  cables  in  forest  areas  and also maintaining transmission lines to avoid sagging.
- viii. Government of India has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)/guidelines  to  manage  Human-Tiger/Human-Leopard  /Human-Elephant conflict.
- ix. The Ministry, in the year 2018, has increased ex-gratia relief under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme in case of depredation by wild animals.
- x. Under the revamped operational guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojna (PMFBY), issued by the Government of India (effective from the  year 2020), States can provide add-on coverage for crop loss due to attack by wild animals.
- xi. To mitigate human wildlife conflict along linear infrastructures like rail tracks, roads/highways  and  power  transmission  lines  passing  through  the  Protected Areas  and  other  wildlife  rich  areas,  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  National Board for Wildlife has recommended that all linear infrastructure development agencies should submit animal passage plans based on the guidelines prepared by Wildlife Institute of India.
- xii. The  Ministry  has  approved  a  project  for  undertaking  immuno-contraceptive measures for population management of wild animals.

*****

## Annexure-I

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1913 DUE FOR REPLY ON 12.02.2021 REGARDING 'ATTACKS BY WILD ANIMALS'.

## Details of human lives lost due to attacks by tigers during last five years

| State             |   2016 |   2017 |   2018 |   2019 |   2020 |
|-------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| Andhra Pradesh    |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| Arunachal Pradesh |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| Assam             |      1 |      1 |      1 |      0 |      0 |
| Bihar             |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      1 |
| Chhattisgarh      |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| Jharkhand         |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| Karnataka         |      0 |      0 |      1 |      4 |      0 |
| Kerala            |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| Madhya Pradesh    |     10 |      5 |      2 |      1 |      5 |
| Maharashtra       |     19 |      7 |      2 |     26 |      0 |
| Mizoram           |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| Orissa            |      0 |      0 |      2 |      0 |      0 |
| Rajasthan         |      0 |      0 |      2 |      5 |      0 |
| Tamil Nadu        |      1 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      1 |
| Telangana         |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      2 |
| Uttar Pradesh     |     15 |     19 |      5 |      8 |      4 |
| Uttarakhand       |      2 |      0 |      1 |      3 |      0 |
| West Bengal       |     14 |     12 |     15 |      3 |      0 |
| Total             |     62 |     44 |     31 |     50 |     13 |

Annexure-II

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1913 DUE FOR REPLY ON 12.02.2021 REGARDING 'ATTACKS BY WILD ANIMALS'.

## Number of Human Deaths caused due to attacks by elephants during last five years

| S.No.   | Zones   | State             |   2015-16 | 2016-17   | 2017-18   | 2018-19   | 2019-20   |
|---------|---------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1       | SZ      | Andhra Pradesh    |         0 | 2         | 6         | 7         | 4         |
| 2       | NE      | Arunachal Pradesh |         1 | NR        | NR        | 0         | NR        |
| 3       | NE      | Assam             |        31 | 91        | 72        | 84        | 75        |
| 4       | ER      | Chhattisgarh      |        53 | 74        | 74        | 56        | 78        |
| 5       | ER      | Jharkhand         |        66 | 59        | 84        | 87        | 84        |
| 6       | SZ      | Karnataka         |        47 | 49        | 22        | 12        | 29        |
| 7       | SZ      | Kerala            |         6 | 33        | 15        | 27        | 12        |
| 8       | SZ      | Maharashtra       |         1 | 0         | 0         | 1         | 1         |
| 9       | NE      | Meghalaya         |         6 | 5         | 7         | 3         | 4         |
| 10      | NE      | Nagaland          |         1 | 1         | 0         | 1         | 0         |
| 11      | ER      | Odisha            |        89 | 66        | 105       | 72        | 117       |
| 12      | SZ      | Tamil Nadu        |        49 | 43        | 49        | 47        | 58        |
| 13      | NE      | Tripura           |         0 | 2         | 0         | NR        | 2         |
| 14      | NZ      | Uttar Pradesh     |         0 | 3         | 1         | 0         | 6         |
| 15      | NZ      | Uttarakhand       |         7 | 4         | 5         | 3         | NR        |
| 16      | NE      | West Bengal       |       112 | 84        | 66        | 52        | 116       |
| Total   |         |                   |       469 | 516       | 506       | 452       | 586       |

Annexure III

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1913 DUE FOR REPLY ON 12.02.2021 REGARDING 'ATTACKS BY WILD ANIMALS'.

## Details of human lives lost due to attacks by wild animals during last five years

| Name of District   |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 |   2018-19 |   2019-20 |
|--------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Darjeeling         |         9 |        10 |         6 |        13 |        12 |
| Kalimpong          |         1 |         3 |         0 |         0 |         3 |
| Alipurduar         |        15 |        16 |        18 |        20 |        26 |
| Jalpaiguri         |        17 |        21 |        21 |        18 |        33 |
| Cooch Behar        |         0 |         0 |         2 |         0 |         0 |
| North Dinajpur     |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |         0 |

Annexure IV ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1913 DUE FOR REPLY ON 12.02.2021 REGARDING

'ATTACKS BY WILD ANIMALS'. Details of compensation paid for loss of human life and property during the last five years

## Rupees in lakh

| Name of Districts   |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 |   2018-19 |   2019-20 |
|---------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Darjeeling          |     34.53 |     30.32 |     81.45 |    51.35  |     66.45 |
| Kalimpong           |      0    |      0    |      0    |     0     |      4.75 |
| Alipuduar           |     64.49 |    106.78 |     90.84 |   144.57  |    137.45 |
| Jalpaiguri          |    107.3  |     77.01 |    124.23 |   160.15  |    118.46 |
| Cooch Behar         |      1.2  |      0    |      5    |     0.144 |      1.16 |
| North Dinajpur      |      0    |      0    |      0    |     0     |      0    |