Lok Sabha Question No. 788 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-12
Subject: Wild Animal Reserves
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Anurag Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 788

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.12.2022

## Wild Animal Reserves

## 788. SHRI ANURAG SHARMA:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  create  wild  animal  reserve  parks  in  Uttar Pradesh and if so, the details thereof and the stand of Union Government on this matter;
- (b) whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  imminent  threats  to  wild animals  like  Elephants,  Tigers  and  other  endangered  animals  caused  by  human interception and encroachment and if so, the details thereof; and;
- (c) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  in  this  regard  and  the  total  funds  allocated during the last three years, year-wise?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) The  Wild  Life  (Protection)  Act,  1972  empowers  the  States/Union Territories,  including  in  Uttar  Pradesh,  for  establishment  of  National Parks, Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves
- (b) and (c) The  Government  has  noted  the  possible  threats  to  wildlife  like  Tiger, Elephant, etc. due to anthropogenic factors. These include death/injury of wild animals, retaliatory killing of animals, habitat degradation, movement of wild animals to human dominated landscapes, etc.

The important steps taken by the Government in this regard include:

- i. Endangered species of animals including Tiger, Elephants, Rhinoceros,  Lion,  etc.  are  listed  under  Schedule  -I  of  the  Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 thereby according them highest degree of protection.
- ii. The  Wild  Life  (Protection)  Act,  1972,  provides  for  stringent. punishments  for  wildlife  offences.  The  Act  also  provides  for forfeiture  of  any  equipment,  vehicle  or  weapon  that  is  used  for committing wildlife offence(s).
- iii. Protected  Areas,  viz.,  National  Parks,  Sanctuaries,  Conservation

Reserves  and  Community  Reserves  covering  important  wildlife habitats have been created all over the country under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to conserve wild animals and their habitats.

- iv. An advisory to deal  with  Human wildlife  conflict  was  issued  by the  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  to  all States/UTs  on  06.02.2021.  The  advisory  suggests  that  the  State Chief Wild Life Wardens may utilize the Panchayati Raj Institutions and authorize the Sarpanch or any other representative of  Gram  Panchayat  for  dealing  with  problematic  wild  animals under Section 11(1) (b) of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- v. A guidance manual titled 'Eco-Friendly Measures to Mitigate the Impacts of Linear Infrastructure on Wildlife' was released by the Ministry  in  December  2016.  The document,  which  was  prepared by  the  Wildlife  Institute  of  India,  provides  detailed  guidance  for planning,  locating,  designing,  implementing  and  operating  smart green roads, railways and power-lines.
- vi. The Standing Committee of National  Board  for Wild Life, in  its 47 th meeting  held  on  25 th January  2018,  recommended  that  user agencies  should  take  into  consideration  the  guidelines  of  the Wildlife  Institute  of  India  while  designing  linear  infrastructure inside Protected Areas and Eco Sensitive Zones. The Ministry has advised the State/UT Forest Departments that linear infrastructure proposals  should  be  accompanied  by  an  animal  passage  plan prepared on the basis of the guidelines and in consultation with the State Chief Wildlife Warden
- vii. Financial and technical assistance is provided to the State/ Union Territory Governments under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes of 'Development  of  Wildlife  Habitats',  'Project  Tiger'  and  'Project Elephant' for providing better protection to wildlife and improvement of its habitat. The details of funds released during the last  three  years  under  the  above  Schemes  is  at Annexure  1a, Annexure 1b and Annexure 1 c respectively.

***

Annexure 1a.

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (b) AND (c) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED Q. No.788 REGARDING WILD ANIMAL RESERVES RAISED BY SHRI ANURAG SHARMA

## Details of funds released to State/ UT Governments under CSS-'Development of Wildlife Habitats' during 2019-20 to 2021-22.

(Rs. in lakhs)

| S.No.   | Name of States/UTs   |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |
|---------|----------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1       | A&NIslands           |   132.64  |    0      |  135.77   |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh       |     0     |    0      |    0      |
| 3       | Arunachal Pradesh    |   512.69  |  312.587  |  419.806  |
| 4       | Assam                |   164.26  |    0      |    0      |
| 5       | Bihar                |   148.142 |  205.164  |  410.86   |
| 6       | Chandigarh           |     0     |   25.16   |    0      |
| 7       | Chhattisgarh         |   310.032 |  104.359  |  274.59   |
| 8       | Goa                  |   111.654 |    0      |    0      |
| 9       | Gujarat              |     0     |  124.585  |    0      |
| 10      | Haryana              |   237.608 |   18.2212 |  127.331  |
| 11      | Himachal Pradesh     |   375.766 |  187.635  |  197.095  |
| 12      | Jammu &Kashmir       |     0     |   80.6286 |    0      |
| 13      | Jharkhand            |    93.96  |  198.226  |   79.5332 |
| 14      | Karnataka            |   739.046 |  586.126  | 1256.59   |
| 15      | Kerala               |   845.026 |  731.284  |  295.774  |
| 16      | Madhya Pradesh       |   629.266 |  801.601  |  389.349  |
| 17      | Maharashtra          |   715.781 |  146.08   |    0      |
| 18      | Manipur              |   396.455 |  241.12   |  142.506  |
| 19      | Meghalaya            |   238.839 |  263.507  |  530.513  |
| 20      | Mizoram              |   431.79  |  339.609  |  198.968  |
| 21      | Nagaland             |   953.69  |  260.001  |  342.031  |
| 22      | Odisha               |   701.504 |  697.5    |  726.803  |
| 23      | Rajasthan            |   741.315 |  309.126  | 1007.65   |
| 24      | Sikkim               |   557.355 |  349.623  |  182.972  |
| 25      | Tamil Nadu           |   409.505 |  334.035  |  390.757  |
| 26      | Telangana            |     0     |   36.593  |    0      |
| 27      | Uttar Pradesh        |   426.251 |  312.924  |  169.063  |
| 28      | Uttarakhand          |  1401.19  |  441.61   |  226.344  |
| 29      | West Bengal          |   891.073 |  710.62   |  757.256  |
| 30      | Puducherry           |     0     |    0      |    0      |
| 31      | Lakshadweep          |   193.272 |  462.409  |  462.086  |
| 32      | Delhi                |     0     |    0      |    0      |
| 33      | Tripura              |    90.317 |  260.679  |    0      |
| 34      | Ladakh UT            |     0     |  223.173  |   31.95   |
|         | Total                | 12448.4   | 8764.18   | 8755.59   |

*****

## Annexure 1b.

## State wise fund released under Central Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of Project Tiger during 201920 to 2021-22

## (Rs. in Lakh)

| Sl. No.   | State             |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |
|-----------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh    |    114.48 |    266.51 |    292.11 |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh |    846.31 |    803.76 |    869.08 |
| 3         | Assam             |   2198.76 |   2513.9  |   1476.75 |
| 4         | Bihar             |    562.84 |    628.89 |    552.72 |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh      |    358.53 |    471.16 |    355.85 |
| 6         | Jharkhand         |   1432.07 |    128.45 |    195.06 |
| 7         | Karnataka         |   2252.03 |   2118.01 |   2956.7  |
| 8         | Kerala            |    607.07 |    402.88 |    868.78 |
| 9         | Madhya Pradesh    |   3501.91 |   2551.26 |   3523.52 |
| 10        | Maharashtra       |   7220.39 |   3098.03 |   2991.06 |
| 11        | Mizoram           |    337.7  |    161.53 |    374.13 |
| 12        | Odisha            |   1303.32 |    680.07 |   1056.86 |
| 13        | Rajasthan         |   1203.19 |   1008.89 |    841.05 |
| 14        | Tamil Nadu        |   1586.91 |   1336.14 |   1576.22 |
| 15        | Telangana         |    359.91 |    351.97 |    543.26 |
| 16        | Uttarakhand       |   1242.49 |   1671.3  |   1463.71 |
| 17        | Uttar Pradesh     |   2289.18 |    923.29 |   1304.85 |
| 18        | West Bengal       |    758.47 |    333.96 |    708.28 |
|           | Total             |  28175.6  |  19450    |  21950    |

***

Annexure 1c.

## State wise fund released under Central Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of Project Elephant during 2019-20 to 2021-22

( Rs. in Lakh)

| Sl. No   | State/UTs         | 2019-20   | 2020-21   | 2021-22   |
|----------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    | 127.03    | 77.28     | 20.5565   |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh | 103.26831 | 282.256   | 157.7615  |
| 3        | Assam             | -         | 35.284    | 126.716   |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh      | -         | -         | 24.785    |
| 5        | Jharkhand         | 161.44438 | 111.86522 | 86.682    |
| 6        | Karnataka         | 412.48239 | 330.40376 | 261.195   |
| 7        | Kerala            | 432.132   | 574.56    | 580.96765 |
| 8        | Maharashtra       | 44.1944   | 17.98     | -         |
| 9        | Meghalaya         | 177.8976  | 9.36      | 141.75    |
| 10       | Nagaland          | 213.9498  | 92.50     | 279.759   |
| 11       | Odisha            | 387.036   | 577.99    | 567.045   |
| 12       | Tamil Nadu        | 275.1576  | -         | 181.8464  |
| 13       | Tripura           | 45.38     | 24.71     | -         |
| 14       | Uttar Pradesh     | 37.74     | -         | 45.993    |
| 15       | Uttarakhand       | 417.312   | 204.85    | 244.12375 |
| 16       | West Bengal       | 113.254   | 64.1958   | 87.8717   |
| 17       | Haryana           | 16.80     | 11.04     | 4.2345    |
| 18       | Bihar             | 57.02752  | 39.08     | -         |
| 19       | Rajasthan         | 35.28     | -         | 15.18     |
| 20       | Punjab            | -         | -         | -         |
| 21       | Madhya Pradesh    | 13.695    | -         | 12.613    |
| 22       | Manipur           | 10.944    | -         | 5.40      |
|          | Total             | 3082.02   | 2453.35   | 2844.48   |

***