Lok Sabha Question No. 2837 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-21
Subject: Poaching and Smuggling of Wild Animals
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Kunwar Danish Ali

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2837 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.03.2022

## Poaching and Smuggling of Wild Animals

## 2837. SHRI KUNWAR DANISH ALI:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  incidents  of  poaching  and smuggling of wild animals in the country has increased in the country during the last three years;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  number  of  cases  smuggling  and  poaching  of  wild animals  came  to  light  along  with  the  number  of  persons  against  whom  action  has been taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether the Government is aware of increasing encroachments in the buffer zones in forests across the country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  reduce  the  increasing  human-wildlife conflict  along  with  the  action  taken  to  check  encroachments  in  the buffer  zones  in forests?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

The management of forest and wildlife, including control of encroachments, hunting  and  smuggling  of  wild  animals  and  their  parts,  is  primarily  the

- (a) to (c) responsibility of the State Governments/UT Administration.

As  per  the  records  available  with  Wildlife  Crime  Control  Bureau,  the number of wildlife offence cases and the number of accused arrested in such cases during the last three years are as under:

|   S. No |   Year |   Number of cases |   Number of accused arrested |
|---------|--------|-------------------|------------------------------|
|       1 |   2019 |               958 |                         1328 |
|       2 |   2020 |               767 |                         1392 |
|       3 |   2021 |               543 |                          706 |

OIH

- (d) The steps taken by the Government to reduce human-wildlife conflict and check encroachments include:
- i. 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  funds are also used for construction  /erection  of  physical  barriers  such  as  solar  powered electric fence, bio-fencing using cactus, boundary walls, animal proof trenches around forests etc. and for augmentation of fodder and water in  forests  in  order  to  restrict  wild  animals  to  forest  areas.  The financial support to States/UTs also includes a  component  of compensation due to damage by wild animals.
- ii. Funds  for  voluntary  relocation  of  villages  from  the  core  areas  of Tiger Reserves,  National  Parks  and  Sanctuaries  are  provided  under the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  'Integrated  Development  of Wildlife Habitats'.
- iii. An advisory on handling human-wildlife conflict has been issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to States/Union Territories on 6 th February 2021.
- iv. To  mitigate  human  wildlife  conflict  along  linear  infrastructure  like rail  tracks,  roads/highways  and  power  transmission  lines  passing through  the Protected Areas  and  other  wildlife  rich areas, the Standing Committee of 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.
- v. The Ministry has written to State Governments/UT Administrations to remove encroachment as per the existing Acts/Rules and to ensure that  no  further  encroachment  takes  place.  In  order  to  prevent  and control  encroachments,  the  States  and  UTs  have  been  requested  to take measures such as demarcation and digitization of forest boundaries, strengthening infrastructure for forest protection, involving fringe area forest communities through Joint Forest Management Committees and Eco Development Committees etc.

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