Lok Sabha Question No. 89 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-22
Subject: Wild Animal Attacks
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Shri K Radhakrishnan, Shri Anto Antony

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 89

TO BE ANSWERED ON 22.07.2024

## Wild Animal Attacks

## 89.  SHRI K RADHAKRISHNAN: SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

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

- (a) the number of people died due to wild animal attacks in the country during the last five years, State and year-wise;
- (b) whether the Government has noticed that several people have been killed by wild animals especially elephant, tiger and leopards outside the forest areas in the State of Kerala;
- (c) if so, the details of such incidents reported in the said State during the last five years, yearwise;
- (d)   whether the Government has any plan to enhance the compensation to the victims of wild animal attacks, if so, the details in this regard including existing compensation to the victims of such incidents;
- (e) whether the Government has liberalized approach regarding human animal conflict in the country especially in the State of Kerala;
- (f)   whether the Government has any proposal to include more wild animals in the Schedule-1 under Wildlife Protection Act; And
- (g)   whether the Government has announced any special package for the kin of deceased persons who have died in wild animal attack, if so, the details therefor and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

- (a) to (c) As per available reports in the Ministry, the details of human deaths due to attack by  elephants  and  tigers  during  the  last  five  years  in  various  states  are  given  at Annexure-I and Annexure  II. The  said  information  in  respect  of  the  State  of Kerala is given separately, as given below.

As informed by the State Government of Kerala, the number of human deaths due to attack by wild animals including elephants, tigers and leopards for the last five years is as follows:

| Year    |   Death caused by elephants |   Death caused by tigers | Deaths caused by leopards   |   Deaths caused by other wild animals |   Total |
|---------|-----------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------------------------|---------|
| 2019-20 |                          13 |                        2 | Nil                         |                                    77 |      92 |

| 2020-21   |   27 |   1 | Nil   |   60 |   88 |
|-----------|------|-----|-------|------|------|
| 2021-22   |   35 |   1 | Nil   |   78 |  114 |
| 2022-23   |   27 |   1 | Nil   |   70 |   98 |
| 2023-24   |   12 |   1 | Nil   |   71 |   94 |

(d) The  Ministry  has  enhanced  the  amount  of  ex-gratia  relief  in  case  of  death  or permanent incapacitation due to  wild animal attacks during December 2023. At present  the  amount  of  ex-gratia  relief  payable  under  the  Centrally  Sponsored Schemes - 'Development of Wildlife Habitats', 'Project Tiger and Elephant' is as follows:

| Sl.   | Nature of damage caused by wild animals   | Amount of ex-gratia relief                                           |
|-------|-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| i.    | Death or permanent incapacitation         | Rs.10.00 lakh                                                        |
| ii.   | Grievous injury                           | Rs.2.00 lakh                                                         |
| iii.  | Minor injury                              | Cost of treatment up to Rs.25,000/-per person                        |
| iv.   | Loss of property/crops                    | State/UT government may adhere to the cost norms prescribed by them. |

(e)

The protection and management of wildlife is primarily the responsibility of State Governments/UT    Administrations. The Ministry provides financial assistance to States/UTs  for  conservation  of  wildlife  and  its  habitats  under  the  Centrally Sponsored  schemes  -  'Development  of  Wildlife  Habitats',  'Project  Tiger  and Elephant'. It includes payment of ex-gratia relief for loss of life and property caused by wild animals.

An  advisory  to  deal  with  human  wildlife  conflict  situations  was  issued  by  the Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  to  all  States/UTs  on 06.02.2021.  The  advisory  recommends  coordinated  interdepartmental  action, identification of conflict hot spots, adherence to Standard Operating Procedures, establishment  of  rapid  response  teams,  formation  of  State  and  District  level committees  to  review  the  quantum  of  ex-gratia  relief,  issuing  guidance  and instructions for expedited payments, and provision of adequate funds for ex-gratia relief to be paid to the affected persons in the case of death and injury to persons.

The  Ministry  has  also  issued  guidelines  to  States  and  UTs  on  03.06.2022  on managing human-wildlife conflict including damage to crops. The guidelines also advise States and UTs to consider utilizing the provisions of Disaster Management Act, 2005 to deal with situation arising out of human wildlife conflict such as rescue and  relief  operations,  providing  ex-gratia  relief,  management  of  law  and  order situation etc.

Further,  the  Ministry  has  released  species  specific  guidelines  on  21.03.2023  for mitigation of conflicts arising from various wild animals namely Elephant, Gaur, Leopard,  Snake,  Crocodile,  Rhesus  Macaque,  Wild  Pig,  Bear,  Blue  Bull  and Blackbuck. Guidelines were also issued for cross cutting issues such as cooperation between the forest and media sector; occupational health and safety in the context of  human-wildlife  conflict  mitigation;  crowd  management  in  human-wildlife conflict related situations and addressing health emergencies and potential health risks arising out of human-wildlife conflict situations.

- (f) The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 has been recently amended in 2022 which rationalized listings  of wild  animals  in  Schedules  I  and  II  appended  to the  Act. Presently, the Ministry does not have any proposal to include more wild animals in Schedule I appended to the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- (g) The  Central  Government  has  enhanced  the  ex-gratia  relief  payable  under  the Centrally Sponsored Schemes - 'Development of Wildlife Habitats', 'Project Tiger and Elephant' from Rs. 5.00 Lakhs to Rs. 10.00 lakhs in case of deaths due to wild animal attacks during December 2023.

****

Number of Human Deaths caused by elephant

| S.No.         | State     | 2019-20   | 2020-21   |   2021-22 |   2022-23 | 2023-24        |
|---------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|----------------|
| 1             | 4         | 6         | NR        |         5 |         6 | Andhra Pradesh |
| 2 Arunachal   | Pradesh 0 | 0         | 2         |         0 |         0 |                |
| 3 Assam       | 75        | 91        | 63        |        80 |        74 |                |
| Chhattisgarh  | 77        | 42        | 64        |        69 |        51 | 4              |
| Jharkhand     | 84        | 74        | 133       |        96 |        87 | 5              |
| 6 Karnataka   | 30        | 26        | 27        |        29 |        48 |                |
| 7 Maharashtra | 1         | NR        | 0         |         2 |         5 |                |
| Meghalaya     | 4         | 6         | 3         |         3 |         7 | 8              |
| Nagaland      | 0         | 0         | 0         |         1 |         1 | 9              |
| Odisha        | 117       | 93        | 112       |       148 |       154 | 10             |
| Tamil Nadu    | 58        | 57        | 37        |        43 |        61 | 11             |
| Tripura       | 2         | 1         | 2         |         2 |         1 | 12             |
| Uttar Pradesh | 6         | 1         | 0         |         4 |         4 | 13             |
| Uttarakhand   | NR        | NR        | NR        |         4 |         8 | 14             |
| West Bengal   | 116       | 47        | 77        |        97 |        99 | 15             |
| Total         |           | 574       | 444       |       520 |       583 | 606            |

*  NR- Information not received from State.

*  Data also include human deaths outside Forest Area.

## Annexure- I

Number of Human Deaths caused by the Tiger Attack

| S. No.                | State          | 2019   | 2020   | 2021   | 2022   | 2023   |
|-----------------------|----------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| 1                     | Andhra Pradesh | 0 0    | 0      |        | 0      | NR     |
| 2                     | Arunachal      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | NR     |
| 3                     | Assam          | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | NR     |
| 4                     | Bihar          | 0      | 1      | 4      | 9      | NR     |
| 5 Chhattisgarh        |                | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 3      |
| 6 Jharkhand           | 0              | 0      | 0      |        | 0      | NR     |
| 7 Karnataka           | 4              | 0      | 1      | 1      | 8      |        |
| 8 Madhya              | 1              | 11     |        | 2      | 3      | 10     |
| Pradesh 9 Maharashtra | 26             | 25     | 32     | 82     |        | 35     |
| 10 Mizoram            | 0              |        | 0      | 0      | 0      | NR     |
| 11 Orissa             | 0              | 0      | 0      |        | 0      | NR     |
| 12 Rajasthan          | 5              |        | 0      | 0      | 0      | NR     |
| 13 Tamil              | Nadu 0         |        | 1      | 3      | 0      | 1      |
| 14                    | Telangana      | 0      | 2      | 0      | 0      | NR     |
| 15                    | Uttar Pradesh  | 8      | 4      | 11     | 11     | 25     |
| 16                    | Uttarakhand    | 2      | 0      | 1      | 3      | NR     |
| 17                    | West Bengal    | 3      | 5      | 5      | 1      | NR     |
| TOTAL                 | TOTAL          | 49     | 49     | 59     | 110    | 82     |

NR- Information not received from State.

Annexure- II