Politics aside, there seems a clear significant divide between the election promises of the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in their commitment to the environment and the issues plaguing it. One look at the manifesto of the BJP reveals a glaring omission, which is that it has miserably failed to address the burning issue of 'Human-Animal Conflict.'
The Sankalp Patra released by the BJP on Monday has no mention of Human-Animal Conflict, despite conflict killing more than 1,700 people between 2015 and 2018 according to a Government data.
Politics aside, there seems a clear significant divide between the election promises of the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in their commitment to the environment and the issues plaguing it. One look at the manifesto of the BJP reveals a glaring omission, which is that it has miserably failed to address the burning issue of 'Human-Animal Conflict.'
In their 15-point manifesto titled the ‘Sankalp Patra,’ the ruling party of India has not even mentioned a single word about the Human-Animal Conflict issues, even though the Centre had acknowledged it as a major issue in the Parliament. While responding to a question in the Parliament during February this year, Mahesh Sharma, the Minister of State, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFF) of India claimed that 1,713 people had been killed by elephants alone in the country, between 2015 and 2018.
The data that the Minister submitted further revealed that the conflict between people and elephants had resulted in the killing of 373 elephants during that same period, of which 226 elephants had been electrocuted (60.6 percent) and the remaining were either hit by trains, poached or poisoned, making that period a dark age for the pachyderm.
The Centre had also accepted in the Parliament that many of the States were fighting a tough battle against rising Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC), with West Bengal (308) and Odisha (305) recording more human deaths caused by elephants. In the South, it was Kerala and Tamil Nadu which were topmost on the list, clearly indicating that there has been a rapid HEC rise in the last five years.
However, the issue has found no mention whatsoever in BJP's manifesto. In fact, the BJP has claimed that it would still “ensure speed and effectiveness in issuing forest and environmental clearances to eligible projects due to which around 9000 sq. km has been added to forest cover.” The HEC mitigation sector gets no acknowledgement from the BJP party. On the other hand, the manifesto of the Indian National Congress certainly gives a fillip to wildlife conservation, on the whole.
With the formation of the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), 'grassroot movements' involving youth, women and NGOs to work for environment protection, conservation of the biodiversity of the Himalayas and the Western Ghats, empowering local communities as custodians of the forest and stake holders of forest resources, and promise to preserve wildlife habitat, the INC's manifesto points that wildlife conservation has been accorded priority in its promises for the country.
Their manifesto also promises to increase forest cover from 21 per cent to 25 per cent by the end of 2025, involving local communities in afforestation programmes, as well as to assess forest cover at district levels. “Congress promises to preserve wildlife habitats and manage and minimise human-wildlife conflict and award compensation for the loss of human lives,” reads the Congress' manifesto.
While experts and people involved in Human-Animal Conflict have welcomed the move by the Congress, political analysts who wish to remain anonymous claim that it could have been instigated by the decision of the party to field its President Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad (Kerala), a HEC hotspot. Rahul Gandhi, the projected Prime Ministerial candidate of the Secular Progressive Alliance, who filed his nomination from the Amethi Constituency (Uttar Pradesh) had also filed his nomination in Wayanad on April 4. This is the first time that Rahul Gandhi is contesting from a constituency in South India.
According to a data from the Wayanad Wildlife Division, 29 people have been killed by wild animals in Wayanad District between 2000 and 2018, of which a majority have been killed by elephants and tigers.
While 738 cattle have been killed by wild animals, 9,176 incidents of crop damage have been recorded in the District during the same period.
The Forest Department of Wayanad has also captured a few elephants in recent years to mitigate HEC.
No concern at regional level
While this is the countrywide scenario, the BJP failed again to address HEC in its manifesto for the Coimbatore Constituency (Tamil Nadu), another important HEC hotspot. Between 1999 and 2018, 133 humans have been killed by elephants in the Coimbatore Forest Division alone.
On the other hand, as many as 191 elephant deaths have been recorded, of which more than 70 per cent are human induced.
In order to address this issue, leading candidates including P R Natarajan of the Secular Progressive Alliance (Congress, DMK and Lefts) and Dr. R Mahendran from Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Neethi Maiyam have openly claimed in their manifestos that they would fight against HEC in Coimbatore, whereas the candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, C P Radhakrishnan has made no mention of HEC, anywhere, in his election promises. It may be noted that the Supreme Court had directed the Centre last year to take necessary steps to curb man-animal conflict.
Expert reaction on the issue
Responding to the stands taken by the parties, experts in the field have emphasised on the importance of political will in wildlife conservation. Stressing on the importance of immediate response to the issue, senior ecologist and former Dean of Wildlife Institute of India, A J T John Singh said that with elephants killing around 500 people every year and damaging crops and property worth crores of rupees, as well as causing immense trauma to the people living in and around the forest landscape, it was essential that the government should assure people that these problems will be addressed, as effectively and early as possible.
M Ananda Kumar, Elephant Biologist from Nature Conservation Foundation who implemented the Elephant Information Network in Valparai said that it would be great if political parties realised that there has been huge amount of scientific research already carried out, adding that they would provide informed decisions to arrive at the best possible options that is congenial for people and elephants in the country. Meanwhile, he also felt that if these assurances were made just to garner votes from people, then neither will it help in elephant conservation nor ensure safety for people’s lives and property.
"What we need is a positive frame of mind and trust-building efforts with the involvement of scientific community and stakeholders, including political parties. This is critical for wildlife conservation and on-ground action plans,” he said.
Claiming that a single and easy solution to human-animal conflict as discussed in manifestos may not be realistically possible, Ananda Kumar opines that understanding at the landscape level but application at local level would be helpful to mitigate conflict between people and animals, especially elephants. “We need to have a multi-pronged approach, based on informed decisions from sound scientific research. This is a prerequisite for on-ground application of policies and plans which is lacking in many areas,” he informed.
Seeing the promise of Congress as an opportunity for conservationists and NGOs to bank in and push for desired results, Surendra Varma, Elephant Biologist and Senior Scientist at Asian Nature Conservation Foundation, said that it was important that such promises are taken forward by stake holders, beyond elections. “One of the failures of our country thus far in nature conservation has been that important discussions and ideas have not been able to reach politicians at higher levels.
They all die out within a small circle, resulting in poor release of mitigation funds. It is high time that the Government recognises man-animal conflict and implements policies to find solutions that benefit both animals and humans, which is pragmatic through effective convergence of knowledge from different stakeholders and experts,” he added.
Welcoming the announcement made by the Congress, Nibha Namboodiri, Elephant Conservationist from Kerala said it was good that the party was thinking of breaking down conservation at the grassroot level, an idea emphasised by Madhav Gadgil who headed the Madhava Gadgil Committee. “States including Kerala and Maharashtra have already implemented it with success. With proper implementation, this could work out well,” she said.
Talking about a comprehensive man-animal conflict policy, Nibha Namboodiri too reiterated that it was important to look at the issue at a landscape level. “The Government should make clear their stand in development, tourism, land use change and industry in areas close to protected areas, since it would have a direct impact on the biodiversity. If one is talking about conservation and at the same time being liberal with developmental activities, it is not pragmatically possible,” she opined.
Politics aside, there seems a clear significant divide between the election promises of the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in their commitment to the environment and the issues plaguing it. One look at the manifesto of the BJP reveals a glaring omission, which is that it has miserably failed to address the burning issue of 'Human-Animal Conflict.'
In their 15-point manifesto titled the ‘Sankalp Patra,’ the ruling party of India has not even mentioned a single word about the Human-Animal Conflict issues, even though the Centre had acknowledged it as a major issue in the Parliament. While responding to a question in the Parliament during February this year, Mahesh Sharma, the Minister of State, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFF) of India claimed that 1,713 people had been killed by elephants alone in the country, between 2015 and 2018.
The data that the Minister submitted further revealed that the conflict between people and elephants had resulted in the killing of 373 elephants during that same period, of which 226 elephants had been electrocuted (60.6 percent) and the remaining were either hit by trains, poached or poisoned, making that period a dark age for the pachyderm.
The Centre had also accepted in the Parliament that many of the States were fighting a tough battle against rising Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC), with West Bengal (308) and Odisha (305) recording more human deaths caused by elephants. In the South, it was Kerala and Tamil Nadu which were topmost on the list, clearly indicating that there has been a rapid HEC rise in the last five years.
However, the issue has found no mention whatsoever in BJP's manifesto. In fact, the BJP has claimed that it would still “ensure speed and effectiveness in issuing forest and environmental clearances to eligible projects due to which around 9000 sq. km has been added to forest cover.” The HEC mitigation sector gets no acknowledgement from the BJP party. On the other hand, the manifesto of the Indian National Congress certainly gives a fillip to wildlife conservation, on the whole.
With the formation of the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), 'grassroot movements' involving youth, women and NGOs to work for environment protection, conservation of the biodiversity of the Himalayas and the Western Ghats, empowering local communities as custodians of the forest and stake holders of forest resources, and promise to preserve wildlife habitat, the INC's manifesto points that wildlife conservation has been accorded priority in its promises for the country.
Their manifesto also promises to increase forest cover from 21 per cent to 25 per cent by the end of 2025, involving local communities in afforestation programmes, as well as to assess forest cover at district levels. “Congress promises to preserve wildlife habitats and manage and minimise human-wildlife conflict and award compensation for the loss of human lives,” reads the Congress' manifesto.
While experts and people involved in Human-Animal Conflict have welcomed the move by the Congress, political analysts who wish to remain anonymous claim that it could have been instigated by the decision of the party to field its President Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad (Kerala), a HEC hotspot. Rahul Gandhi, the projected Prime Ministerial candidate of the Secular Progressive Alliance, who filed his nomination from the Amethi Constituency (Uttar Pradesh) had also filed his nomination in Wayanad on April 4. This is the first time that Rahul Gandhi is contesting from a constituency in South India.
According to a data from the Wayanad Wildlife Division, 29 people have been killed by wild animals in Wayanad District between 2000 and 2018, of which a majority have been killed by elephants and tigers.
While 738 cattle have been killed by wild animals, 9,176 incidents of crop damage have been recorded in the District during the same period.
The Forest Department of Wayanad has also captured a few elephants in recent years to mitigate HEC.
No concern at regional level
While this is the countrywide scenario, the BJP failed again to address HEC in its manifesto for the Coimbatore Constituency (Tamil Nadu), another important HEC hotspot. Between 1999 and 2018, 133 humans have been killed by elephants in the Coimbatore Forest Division alone.
On the other hand, as many as 191 elephant deaths have been recorded, of which more than 70 per cent are human induced.
In order to address this issue, leading candidates including P R Natarajan of the Secular Progressive Alliance (Congress, DMK and Lefts) and Dr. R Mahendran from Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Neethi Maiyam have openly claimed in their manifestos that they would fight against HEC in Coimbatore, whereas the candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, C P Radhakrishnan has made no mention of HEC, anywhere, in his election promises. It may be noted that the Supreme Court had directed the Centre last year to take necessary steps to curb man-animal conflict.
Expert reaction on the issue
Responding to the stands taken by the parties, experts in the field have emphasised on the importance of political will in wildlife conservation. Stressing on the importance of immediate response to the issue, senior ecologist and former Dean of Wildlife Institute of India, A J T John Singh said that with elephants killing around 500 people every year and damaging crops and property worth crores of rupees, as well as causing immense trauma to the people living in and around the forest landscape, it was essential that the government should assure people that these problems will be addressed, as effectively and early as possible.
M Ananda Kumar, Elephant Biologist from Nature Conservation Foundation who implemented the Elephant Information Network in Valparai said that it would be great if political parties realised that there has been huge amount of scientific research already carried out, adding that they would provide informed decisions to arrive at the best possible options that is congenial for people and elephants in the country. Meanwhile, he also felt that if these assurances were made just to garner votes from people, then neither will it help in elephant conservation nor ensure safety for people’s lives and property.
"What we need is a positive frame of mind and trust-building efforts with the involvement of scientific community and stakeholders, including political parties. This is critical for wildlife conservation and on-ground action plans,” he said.
Claiming that a single and easy solution to human-animal conflict as discussed in manifestos may not be realistically possible, Ananda Kumar opines that understanding at the landscape level but application at local level would be helpful to mitigate conflict between people and animals, especially elephants. “We need to have a multi-pronged approach, based on informed decisions from sound scientific research. This is a prerequisite for on-ground application of policies and plans which is lacking in many areas,” he informed.
Seeing the promise of Congress as an opportunity for conservationists and NGOs to bank in and push for desired results, Surendra Varma, Elephant Biologist and Senior Scientist at Asian Nature Conservation Foundation, said that it was important that such promises are taken forward by stake holders, beyond elections. “One of the failures of our country thus far in nature conservation has been that important discussions and ideas have not been able to reach politicians at higher levels.
They all die out within a small circle, resulting in poor release of mitigation funds. It is high time that the Government recognises man-animal conflict and implements policies to find solutions that benefit both animals and humans, which is pragmatic through effective convergence of knowledge from different stakeholders and experts,” he added.
Welcoming the announcement made by the Congress, Nibha Namboodiri, Elephant Conservationist from Kerala said it was good that the party was thinking of breaking down conservation at the grassroot level, an idea emphasised by Madhav Gadgil who headed the Madhava Gadgil Committee. “States including Kerala and Maharashtra have already implemented it with success. With proper implementation, this could work out well,” she said.
Talking about a comprehensive man-animal conflict policy, Nibha Namboodiri too reiterated that it was important to look at the issue at a landscape level. “The Government should make clear their stand in development, tourism, land use change and industry in areas close to protected areas, since it would have a direct impact on the biodiversity. If one is talking about conservation and at the same time being liberal with developmental activities, it is not pragmatically possible,” she opined.