Lok Sabha Question No. 2012 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-19
Subject: Elephant Deaths
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2012

TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.12.2022

## Elephant Deaths

## 2012.   SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY:

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

- (a) the detaisl of elephant deaths occurred due to non-natural causes like electrocution, accidents etc. during the last five years, State-wise and category-wise including the State of West Bengal;
- (b) whether the Government is taking any steps to prevent such deaths; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) As per the information received from States, the details of elephant deaths occurred due to unnatural causes like train accident, electrocution, poaching and poisoning during the last  five  years,  including  West  Bengal  are  enclosed  as  Annexure-I,  II,  III  and  IV respectively.
- (b)&(c) The management of wildlife is primarily the responsibility of State Governments/UTs Administration.

In  addition,  the  following  measures  taken  by  Ministry  also  help  in  prevention  of elephant deaths due to unnatural reasons:-

- (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 human-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) The  States/UTs  and  Power  Transmission  agencies  have  been  requested  to  take necessary steps for compliance of Electricity Rules & Regulations and to maintain minimum ground clearance for electric transmission lines for minimizing death of elephants due to electrocution.
- (iv) Advisory  on  implementation  of  measures  to  mitigate  the  impact  of  power transmission lines and other power infrastructure on elephant and other wildlife issued by Ministry of Power to all DISCOMs and TRANSCOs has been circulated to all States/UTS on 16 th September, 2022.
- (v) A general advisory has been issued jointly by Ministry of Railways (MoRs) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on 30 th March, 2010 to the General Managers of NF, East Cost and Southern Railways with a request to implement the suggested measures.
- (vi) Wildlife Institute of India in consultation with the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, National Highway Authority, National Tiger Conservation Authority  and  World  Bank  Group  has  published  a  document  namely  '  Ecofriendly  Measures to Mitigate  Impacts of  Linear  Infrastructure' to  assist  project agencies in designing linear infrastructure, including railways lines, in a manner that reduces human-animal conflicts.
- (vii) 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.
- (viii) 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  32 Elephant Reserves have been established in 14 major elephant States.
- (ix) The  Wild  Life  (Protection)  Act,  1972  provides  for  stringent  punishment  for violation of its provisions. The Act also provides for forfeiture of any equipment, vehicle or weapon that is used for committing wildlife offence(s).
- (x) 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.

***

ANNEXURE -I

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2012 RAISED BY SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY  REGARDING  'ELEPHANT DEATHS' DUE FOR REPLY ON 19.12.2022.

ELEPHANT CASUALTIES IN TRAIN ACCIDENTS FROM 2017-18 TO 2021-22

| S.No.   | State         |   2017-18 | 2018-19   |   2019-20 | 2020-21   | 2021-22   |
|---------|---------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1       | Assam         |        10 | 2         |         2 | 5         | 8         |
| 2       | West Bengal   |         2 | 6         |         5 | 0         | 0         |
| 3       | Tamil Nadu    |         0 | 0         |         0 | 1         | 3         |
| 4       | Jharkhand     |         0 | 0         |         1 | 1         | 0         |
| 5       | Kerala        |         0 | 1         |         3 | 0         | 0         |
| 6       | Odisha        |         2 | 7         |         1 | 4         | 3         |
| 7       | Tripura       |         0 | NR        |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 8       | Uttarakhand   |         5 | 1         |         2 | NR        | NR        |
| 9       | Uttar Pradesh |         0 | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 10      | Karnataka     |         1 | 2         |         0 | 1         | 1         |
|         | Total         |        20 | 19        |        14 | 12        | 15        |

*NR- Information not received from State.

ANNEXURE -II

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2012 RAISED BY SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY  REGARDING  'ELEPHANT DEATHS' DUE FOR REPLY ON 19.12.2022.

ELEPHANT CASUALTIES BY ELECTROCUTION FROM 2017-18 TO 2021-22

| S.No.   | State             | 2017-18   | 2018-19   |   2019-20 | 2020-21   | 2021-22   |
|---------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh    | 0         | 2         |         5 | 1         | NR        |
| 2       | Arunachal Pradesh | NR        | 0         |         0 | 0         | NR        |
| 3       | Assam             | 24        | 9         |        11 | 13        | 12        |
| 4       | Chhattisgarh      | 2         | 6         |         2 | 7         | 4         |
| 5       | Jharkhand         | 1         | 1         |         5 | 5         | 4         |
| 6       | Karnataka         | 10        | 9         |         8 | 9         | 7         |
| 7       | Kerala            | 4         | 6         |         4 | 2         | 6         |
| 8       | Maharashtra       | 0         | 0         |         0 | NR        | 0         |
| 9       | Meghalaya         | 3         | 0         |         5 | 0         | 1         |
| 10      | Nagaland          | 0         | 4         |         2 | 1         | 1         |
| 11      | Odisha            | 9         | 24        |         9 | 8         | 13        |
| 12      | Tamil Nadu        | 11        | 10        |        15 | 9         | 5         |
| 13      | Tripura           | 0         | NR        |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 14      | Uttar Pradesh     | 0         | 3         |         3 | 0         | 2         |
| 15      | Uttarakhand       | 3         | 3         |         2 | NR        | NR        |
| 16      | West Bengal       | 2         | 4         |         5 | 10        | 2         |
|         | Total             | 69        | 81        |        76 | 65        | 57        |

*NR- Information not received from State.

ANNEXURE -III

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2012 RAISED BY SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY  REGARDING  'ELEPHANT DEATHS' DUE FOR REPLY ON 19.12.2022.

ELEPHANT CASUALTIES BY POACHING FROM 2017-18 TO 2021-22

| S.No   | State             | 2017-18   | 2018-19   |   2019-20 | 2020-21   | 2021-22   |
|--------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1      | Andhra Pradesh    | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | NR        |
| 2      | Arunachal Pradesh | NR        | 0         |         0 | 0         | NR        |
| 3      | Assam             | 4         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 4      | Chhattisgarh      | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 5      | Jharkhand         | 1         | 1         |         1 | 0         | 0         |
| 6      | Karnataka         | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 7      | Kerala            | 0         | 0         |         1 | 1         | 0         |
| 8      | Maharashtra       | 0         | 0         |         0 | NR        | 0         |
| 9      | Meghalaya         | 0         | 1         |         4 | 7         | 0         |
| 10     | Nagaland          | 1         | 0         |         0 | 2         | 0         |
| 11     | Odisha            | 2         | 2         |         3 | 2         | 1         |
| 12     | Tamil Nadu        | 0         | 1         |         0 | 2         | 3         |
| 13     | Tripura           | 0         | NR        |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 14     | Uttar Pradesh     | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 15     | Uttarakhand       | 0         | 1         |         0 | NR        | NR        |
| 16     | West Bengal       | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
|        | Total             | 8         | 6         |         9 | 14        | 4         |

*NR- Information not received from State.

ANNEXURE -IV

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2012 RAISED BY SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY  REGARDING  'ELEPHANT DEATHS' DUE FOR REPLY ON 19.12.2022.

ELEPHANT CASUALTIES BY POISONING FROM 2017-18 TO 2021-22

| S.No.   | State             | 2017-18   | 2018-19   |   2019-20 | 2020-21   | 2021-22   |
|---------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh    | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | NR        |
| 2       | Arunachal Pradesh | NR        | 0         |         0 | 0         | NR        |
| 3       | Assam             | 6         | 8         |         0 | 1         | 6         |
| 4       | Chhattisgarh      | 0         | 0         |         0 | 1         | 0         |
| 5       | Jharkhand         | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 6       | Karnataka         | 1         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 7       | Kerala            | 0         | 1         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 8       | Maharashtra       | 0         | 0         |         0 | NR        | 0         |
| 9       | Meghalaya         | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 10      | Nagaland          | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 11      | Odisha            | 1         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 12      | Tamil Nadu        | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 13      | Tripura           | 0         | NR        |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 14      | Uttar Pradesh     | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| 15      | Uttarakhand       | 0         | NR        |         0 | NR        | NR        |
| 16      | West Bengal       | 0         | 0         |         0 | 0         | 0         |
| Total   |                   | 8         | 9         |         0 | 2         | 6         |

*NR- Information not received from State.