World Elephant Day 2022 celebrated at Periyar in the presence of Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change
“Our association with elephants is ancient,
valued and revered”; Union Minister
Elephants are critical to the sustenance of our wildlife and biodiversity; Bhupender
Yadav
Government of India recognizes that welfare of people is at the heart of
elephant conservation in India
Kattappana in Idukki to soon have a 100 bedded ESIC hospital
World Elephant
day - 2022 was celebrated today at Periyar, Kerala in the presence of Bhupender
Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change
(EF&CC), Ashwini Kumar Choubey, MoS, EF&CC and AK Saseendran, Minister of Forests &
Wildlife, Kerala among others.
The Union Minister released
“Elephant Reserves of India: An Atlas”, “Elephant Reserves of India: Land Use
Land Cover Classification”, “Caring for elephants: Managing health and welfare
in captivity” and the Special edition of “Trumpet”.
Commemorating 30 years of
completion of Project Elephant, a poster on elephant conservation in India was
released by all dignitaries.
For the first
time in an initiative taken by the Minister, Gaj Gaurav award was conferred for
the commendable efforts of local communities, frontline staff and mahouts
working at grass root level to conserve elephants in wild and captivity. This
year the Malasar Community belonging to the Anamalai of Tamil Nadu and mahouts
of Kerala and Assam were awarded the Gaj Gaurav award by the Union Minister,
EF&CC.
Prizes were also given to school students for several
competitions held on the theme “Living with elephants”. Speaking at the
occasion, the Union Minister reiterated that our association with elephants is
ancient, valued and revered. He further said that Elephants are also
critical to the sustenance of our wildlife and biodiversity and India places a
very high premium on the conservation of the jumbos.
Yadav also stated that “Hon’ble
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji a staunch environmentalist and nature
lover has made two aspects central to our wildlife conservation strategy.
First, wildlife protections and fight against climate change can go hand in
hand with development – without either compromising on the other. Second,
conservation efforts for our wildlife and biodiversity should be
community-driven and all the assistance needed from the state being made
available.
The Union Minister informed the audience that India has
the largest and the most stable population of Asian elephants. In fact, more
than 60% of wild Asian elephants are in India. The population of 29,964
elephants as recorded in the last elephant census conducted in 2017 speaks
volumes of the passion for wildlife conservation ingrained in Indian culture.
“We have some of the best laws to protect elephants and their habitats. We have
the most amazing people who love and worship elephants”, said the Minister.
Union Minister further said that India has 31 Elephant
Reserves. In the last 3 years, Dandeli Elephant
Reserve has been notified by the state of Karnataka, Singphan Elephant
Reserve by Nagaland and Lemru Elephant
Reserve in Chhattisgarh. This has brought the total area under Elephant
Reserves in India to about 76,508 sqkm across 14 states of the country.
He also shared that India is going to witness the establishment of one more Elephant Reserve, the Agasthiyamalai in Tamil Nadu, adding yet another 1197 sqkm of Protected Area dedicated for protection and conservation of elephants in India.
Speaking about the human-animal conflict, Yadav said, “The Government of India
recognizes that welfare of people is at the heart of elephant conservation in
India. With competition for resources, human-elephant conflict is increasing
and it is unfortunate that on an average 500 people are killed annually by
elephants and about 100 elephants are killed in retaliation by people. Managing
human-elephant conflict is a major focus of the Indian government. Reaching out
to the families of the victims affected by elephants, Pradhan Mantri Narendra
Modi ji’s government has increased the ex-gratia from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
To find a long-term solution, we are revisiting the
elephant corridors of the country and have finished more than 50% of the task
involving key stakeholders in this endeavour.
Yadav took the opportunity to inform that regarding the
eco sensitive zone judgement passed by the Supreme Court, the Ministry is
filing a review petition, specially again to revisit the section 44A and 44E of
the judgement as more clarity on the issue was required. He also
touched upon the issue of wild boars and stated that the Ministry had already
issued a guideline for the human wildlife conflict in February 2021 and powers
have been given to the Chief Wildlife Warden of Kerala under section 11 of
Wildlife Protection Act for mitigation of this problem.
On the issue of Western Ghats, a committee had been
appointed to take a holistic approach to Kasturirangan and Gadgil Committee
Report and to consider the representation given by the people.
Union Minister Yadav also informed that the Wildlife
Protection Act has been amended and passed by Lok Sabha recently and there is a
provision that mentions that use of elephants for the religious purpose will be
continued with certain guidelines of Government of India and Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
The Union Minister took the opportunity to reiterate that
Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi Ji’s Government is “pro-poor, pro people and pro
planet” and that is the reason that the Prime Minister announced a mission of
LiFE (Lifestyle For Environment) in Glasgow summit.
In the capacity of Union Minister of Labour &
Employment, Bhupender Yadav announced that Kattappana in Idukki district will
soon have a 100 bedded ESIC hospital with full facility for the purpose of
serving the poor people.
“I am confident that our efforts will pave the way to
secure the future of wild elephants and their habitat globally”, concluded the
Minister.
MoS, EF&CC, Choubey also addressed the gathering and said that Gajaraj has always been a part of all activities associated with human welfare since ages. He also said that the importance of public participation in conservation of elephants cannot be overstated.
World Elephant Day is an
international annual event, dedicated to the preservation and protection of the
world's elephants. The goal of World Elephant Day is to create awareness on
elephant conservation, and to share knowledge and positive solutions for the
better protection and management of wild and captive elephants.
The current population estimates indicate that there are
about 50,000 - 60000 Asian elephants in the world. More than 60% of the
population is held in India. Indian Elephant has also been listed in the
Appendix I of the Convention of the Migratory species in the recently concluded
Conference of Parties of CMS 13 at Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat in February 2020.
World Elephant Day is being celebrated to bring attention of various
stakeholders to support various conservation policies to help elephants,
including improving enforcement policies to prevent the illegal poaching and
trade of ivory, conserving elephant habitats, providing better treatment for
captive elephants and reintroducing some captive elephants into sanctuaries.
Elephant is the Natural Heritage Animal of India and India also celebrates this
day to spread awareness towards conservation of the species.