MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)
(a)and (b) Reports about incidents of wild animals straying into human habitation and causing damage to crops and human lives in various parts of the country are received in the Ministry from time to time. However, the State-wise and year-wise details of such incidents are not collated in the Ministry.
(c)and (d) Management of wildlife and its habitats is the mandate of the concerned State /Union Territory Governments. The Central Government provides financial assistance to the States/ Union Territory Governments under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes of `Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats`, `Project Tiger` and `Project Elephant` to, inter alia, make payment of ex-gratia relief in respect of damage to crops and loss of human lives suffered by the victims of depredations/attacks by wild animals.
Several activities including construction/erection of physical barriers like barbed wire fence, solar powered electric fence, bio-fencing using cactus, boundary walls etc. to prevent the entry of wild animals into crop fields are also supported under these schemes.
Details of funds released to the State/Union Territory Governments under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes of `Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats`, `Project Tiger` and ‘Project Elephant` for taking up activities as per the scheme guidelines including payment of ex-gratia amounts and provisioning of fencing during the last three years and the current year are given in the Annexure.
(e) The following steps have been taken by the Government to protect the lives of the villagers residing in and around forest areas including Tiger reserves in the country:
1. Financial assistance is provided to the State Governments under Centrally Sponsored Schemes of “Integrated Development of Wildlife habitats”, “Project Tiger” and “Project Elephant” to undertake measures for improvement of wildlife habitats and to augment availability of food and water in forest areas to reduce migration of animals from the forests to human habitations.
2. Financial assistance is provided to the State Governments for construction of physical barriers such as boundary walls and solar fences around the sensitive areas to prevent wild animal attacks.
3. Awareness programmes are launched by the Government to sensitize the people about the Do`s and Dont`s in case of wild animals scare and attacks.
4. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has issued guidelines to State/Union Territory Governments for management of Human-Leopard conflicts.
5. Training programmes are conducted for forest staff and police to address the problems of human-wildlife conflicts.
6. Necessary infrastructure and support facilities are developed for immobilization of problematic animals through tranquilization, their translocation to the rescue centers or release back to the natural habitats.
7. Ex-gratia relief is paid to the people for injuries suffered and loss of life caused due to attack by wild animals.
9. The Chief Wildlife Warden of the State/Union Territories are empowered to permit hunting of problematic animals under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
10. Eco-development activities in villages around Protected Areas are carried out to address the grievances of people regarding human -wildlife conflicts, and also to elicit their cooperation in management of the Protected Areas.
11. Research and academic institutions and leading voluntary organizations having expertise in managing human -wildlife conflict situations are involved in ascertaining the causes of conflict and their possible remedies.
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