Lok Sabha Question No. 3194 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-20
Subject: Elephant-Human Conflict
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Su Thirunavukkarasar

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3194

TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.03.2023

## Elephant-Human Conflict

## 3194.   SHRI THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU:

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

- (a) the estimated number of elephants living in the country, State-wise;
- (b) whether the elephant-human conflict has been on the rise during the last few years and the deaths occurred as a result thereof, both elephant and human during the last three years and the current year,
- (c) if  so,  the  details  thereof,  year-wise  along  with  the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the Government to prevent the same;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to update and review the elephant corridors across the country, if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the time by which the above proposal is likely to be done?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) The State-wise details of elephant population estimation are at Annexure-I.
- (b)  The  State-wise  details  of  human  casualties  due  to  wild  elephant  attack  and  elephant casualties  due  to  unnatural  causes  like  train  accident,  electrocution,  poaching  and poisoning  during  the  last  three  years,  as  per  the  information  received  from  States,  are enclosed as Annexure -II and Annexure -III respectively.
- (c) The  management  of  wildlife  including  mitigation  and  management  of  human-elephant conflict (HEC) is primarily the responsibility of State Governments/UTs Administration. The state forest departmentsare working with the local people to address the HEC issues through periodic awareness campaigns to sensitize, guide and advise the general public on man-animal conflict, including dissemination of information through various forms of media.    Further,  Forest  Departments  are  engaging  with  local  communities  as  animal trackers to monitor the movement of elephants and also to caution local people to avoid human-animal conflict, prevent damage or loss of human life and elephants.

In  addition,  the  following  measures  taken  by  Ministry  also  help  in  mitigation  of human elephant conflict:-

- (i) The Ministry provides financial and technical assistance to States/UTs under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes 'Project Elephant' for protection and conservation of elephants and their habitats in the country.
- (ii) 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.  The  Ministry  has  notified  enhancement  of  ex-gratia rates related to wildlife depredation vide letter No. 14-2/2011 WL-I (part) dated 9th February, 2018.
- (iii) Various other Centrally Sponsored schemes being implemented by this Ministry contribute to the improvement in the natural habitat of elephants by augmenting water  sources,  planting  of  fodder  trees,  regeneration  of  bamboo  etc.    Such schemes  include  Development  of  Wildlife  Habitat  and  Project  Tiger.    The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act 2016 and the Rules made there under also provide  for  use  of  the  Fund  for  development  of  wildlife  habitats,  including  for elephants,  establishment  of  animal  rescue  centres,  etc.  which  also  contribute  to reduction in HEC.
- (iv) A guideline for Management of Human Elephant Conflict has been issued by the Ministry  on  6.10.2017  and  elephant  range  states have  been  requested  for implementation of the same.
- (v) Critical elephant habitats are notified as 'Elephant Reserve' for focus and synergy in  elephant  conservation  and  to  reduce  conflict.  The  notification  is  carried  out with  the  approval  of  Steering  Committee  formed  in  the  Ministry.    So  far  33 Elephant Reserves have been established in 14 major elephant States.
- (vi) A  field  manual  for  frontline  staff  to  manage  Human  Elephant  Conflict  was released during the 16 th meeting of the Steering Committee on 29 th April, 2022.
- (vii) A  Capacity  Building  Workshop  for  Railway  Officials  Training  the  Trainers:  A special online training programme for sensitizing officials of the Indian Railways' Training Institutes towards India's wildlife and rich biodiversity was conducted on 19 th September, 2022.
- (viii) Regional coordination meeting for the Eastern Region to address Human-Elephant Conflict was conducted on 19 th January, 2023 at Kolkata.
- (ix) A  Capacity  Building  Workshop  on  'Minimizing  Railway-induced  Elephant Mortalities  for  the  Officers  of  the  Indian  Railways'  was  conducted  on  1 st -3 rd February, 2023.
- (d)&(e)  The  Ministry,  in  coordination  with  the  State  Forest  Departments,  has  initiated  the process  for  groundtruthing  of  Elephant  corridors  in  India,  so  as  to  create  a  better connectivity  between  the  different  landscape  and  elephants  herds  for  maintaining genetic diversity.

********

## ANNEXURE-I

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3194 RAISED BY SHRI  THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU REGARDING 'ELEPHANT-HUMAN CONFLICT' DUE FOR REPLY ON 20.03.2023.

## Population of wild elephants as reported by States

| REGION              | STATE                         | ELEPHANT POPULATION   |
|---------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------|
| North-East          | Arunachal Pradesh             | 1614                  |
| North-East          | Assam                         | 5719                  |
| North-East          | Meghalaya                     | 1754                  |
| North-East          | Tripura                       | 102*                  |
| North-East          | Nagaland                      | 446*                  |
| North-East          | West Bengal (North Region)    | 488                   |
| North-East          | Manipur                       | 9                     |
| North-East          | Mizoram                       | 7                     |
| North-East          | Total for North-East          | 10,139                |
| East Central Region | Odisha                        | 1976                  |
| East Central Region | Jharkhand                     | 679                   |
| East Central Region | Chhattisgarh                  | 247                   |
| East Central Region | Bihar                         | 25                    |
| East Central Region | Madhya Pradesh                | 7                     |
| East Central Region | West Bengal (South Region)    | 194                   |
| East Central Region | Total for East Central Region | 3128                  |
| North West Region   | Uttarakhand                   | 1839                  |
| North West Region   | Uttar Pradesh                 | 232                   |
| North West Region   | Haryana                       | 7                     |
| North West Region   | Himachal Pradesh              | 7                     |
| North West Region   | Total for North West Region   | 2085                  |
| South Region        | Karnataka                     | 6049                  |
| South Region        | Kerala                        | 5706*                 |
| South Region        | Maharashtra                   | 6                     |
| South Region        | Andhra Pradesh                | 65                    |
| South Region        | Andaman &Nicobar Islands      | 25*                   |
| South Region        | Tamil Nadu                    | 2761                  |
| South Region        | Total forSouth Region         | 14612                 |
| GRAND TOTAL         | GRAND TOTAL                   | 29964                 |

ANNEXURE-II ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (b)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3194 RAISED BY SHRI  THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU REGARDING 'ELEPHANT-HUMAN CONFLICT' DUE FOR REPLY ON 20.03.2023.

Human casualties due to elephant attack during the last three years

| S.No.   | State 2019-20       | 2020-21   | 2021-22   |
|---------|---------------------|-----------|-----------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh 4    | 6 NR      |           |
| 2       | Arunachal Pradesh 0 | 0         | 2         |
| 3       | Assam 75            | 91        | 63        |
| 4       | Chhattisgarh 77     | 42        | 64        |
| 5       | Jharkhand 84        | 74        | 133       |
| 6       | Karnataka 29        | 23        | 17        |
| 7       | Kerala 12           | 20        | 25        |
| 8       | Maharashtra 1       | NR        | 0         |
| 9       | Meghalaya 4         | 6         | 3         |
| 10      | Nagaland 0          | 0         | 0         |
| 11      | Odisha 117          | 93        | 112       |
| 12      | Tamil Nadu 58       | 57        | 37        |
| 13      | Tripura 2           | 1         | 2         |
| 14      | Uttar Pradesh 6     | 1         | 0         |
| 15      | Uttarakhand NR      | NR        | NR        |
| 16      | West Bengal 116     | 47        | 77        |
|         | Total 585           | 461       | 535       |

*NR- Information not received from States.

ANNEXURE-III ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (b)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3194 RAISED BY SHRI  THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU REGARDING 'ELEPHANT-HUMAN CONFLICT' DUE FOR REPLY ON 20.03.2023.

## Elephant Casualties due to Train Accidents during the last three years

| S.No.   | State           | 2019-20   | 2020-21   | 2021-22   |
|---------|-----------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1       | 2               | 5         | 8         | Assam     |
| 2       | West Bengal 5   | 0         |           | 0         |
| 3       | Tamil Nadu 0    | 1         |           | 3         |
| 4       | Jharkhand 1     | 1         | 0         |           |
| 5       | 3               | 0         | 0         | Kerala    |
| 6       | 1               | 4         | 3         | Odisha    |
| 7       | 0               | 0         | 0         | Tripura   |
| 8       | Uttarakhand 2   | NR        | NR        |           |
| 9       | Uttar Pradesh 0 | 0         |           | 0         |
| 10      | Karnataka 0     |           | 1         | 1         |
| Total   | Total           | 14        | 12        | 15        |

*NR- Information not received from State.

ANNEXURE-III ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (b)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3194 RAISED BY SHRI  THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU REGARDING 'ELEPHANT-HUMAN CONFLICT' DUE FOR REPLY ON 20.03.2023.

Elephant Casualties due to Electrocution during the last three years

| S.No.   | State     | 2019-20 2020-21   | 2021-22           |
|---------|-----------|-------------------|-------------------|
| 1       | 5         | 1                 | Andhra Pradesh NR |
| 2       | Pradesh 0 | 0                 | Arunachal NR      |
| 3       | 11        | 13                | Assam 12          |
| 4       | 2         | 7                 | Chhattisgarh 4    |
| 5       | 5         | 5                 | Jharkhand 4       |
| 6       | 8         | 9                 | Karnataka 7       |
| 7       | 4         | 2                 | Kerala 6          |
| 8       | 0         | NR                | Maharashtra 0     |
| 9       | 5         | 0                 | Meghalaya 1       |
| 10      | 2         | 1                 | Nagaland 1        |
| 11      | 9         | 8                 | Odisha 13         |
| 12      | 15        | 9                 | Tamil Nadu 5      |
| 13      | 0         | 0                 | Tripura 0         |
| 14      | Pradesh 3 | 0                 | Uttar 2           |
| 15      | 2         | NR                | Uttarakhand NR    |
| 16      | 5         | 10                | West Bengal 2     |
| Total   | Total     | 76 65             | 57                |

*NR- Information not received from State.

ANNEXURE-III ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (b)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3194 RAISED BY SHRI  THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU REGARDING 'ELEPHANT-HUMAN CONFLICT' DUE FOR REPLY ON 20.03.2023.

Elephant Casualties due to Poaching during the last three years

| S.No   | State 2019-20       | 2020-21   | 2021-22   |
|--------|---------------------|-----------|-----------|
| 1      | Andhra Pradesh 0    | 0 NR      |           |
| 2      | Arunachal Pradesh 0 | 0         | NR        |
| 3      | Assam 0             | 0         | 0         |
| 4      | Chhattisgarh 0      | 0         | 0         |
| 5      | Jharkhand 1         | 0         | 0         |
| 6      | Karnataka 0         | 0         | 0         |
| 7      | Kerala 1            | 1         | 0         |
| 8      | Maharashtra 0       | NR        | 0         |
| 9      | Meghalaya 4         | 7         | 0         |
| 10     | Nagaland 0          | 2         | 0         |
| 11     | Odisha 3            | 2         | 1         |
| 12     | Tamil Nadu 0        | 2         | 3         |
| 13     | Tripura 0           | 0         | 0         |
| 14     | Uttar Pradesh 0     | 0         | 0         |
| 15     | Uttarakhand 0       | NR        | NR        |
| 16     | West Bengal 0       | 0         | 0         |
| Total  | 9                   | 14        | 4         |

*NR- Information not received from State.

ANNEXURE-III ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (b)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3194 RAISED BY SHRI  THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU REGARDING 'ELEPHANT-HUMAN CONFLICT' DUE FOR REPLY ON 20.03.2023.

## Elephant Casualties due to Poisoning during the last three years

| S.No.            | State     | 2019-20 2020-21   | 2021-22   |
|------------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------|
| 1 Andhra Pradesh | 0         | 0                 | NR        |
| 2 Arunachal      | Pradesh 0 | 0                 | NR        |
| 3 Assam          | 0         | 1                 | 6         |
| 4 Chhattisgarh   | 0         | 1                 | 0         |
| 5 Jharkhand      | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| 6 Karnataka      | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| 7 Kerala         | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| 8 Maharashtra    | 0         | NR                | 0         |
| 9 Meghalaya      | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| 10 Nagaland      | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| 11 Odisha        | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| 12 Tamil Nadu    | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| 13 Tripura       | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| 14 Uttar Pradesh | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| 15 Uttarakhand   | 0         | NR                | NR        |
| 16 West Bengal   | 0         | 0                 | 0         |
| Total            | Total     | 0 2               | 6         |

*NR- Information not received from State.