Abstract:

This paper mainly focusses on the conflicts between the Humans and the Wild animals in India. In this paper firstly, the need and preservation of the Wild animals and their right to live in the forest without any human interference will be explained. Secondly, the right to protect their ‘Migration Pathways’ which is called as the wildlife corridors will be justified by explaining about the habitat of a animal (elephant) which has been focused since there is a need for their protection. The elephant corridors will be explained in detail with all the corridor programmes which are working and the current status of them. The elephant behaviour as well as the human behaviour will be studied which would help in writing their phycology. Further, encroachment made by the human beings by converting the forest lands into agricultural land and converting the land for commercial purposes and their impacts on the forest as well as the Elephants will be answered. Lastly, the need for including and defining the term “Elephant Corridor’’ to be introduced into the statutes like “The Wildlife Protection Act 1972”, and would explain the importance of such an amendment to the Act in safeguarding the Elephants, forests and conclude the paper by stating how such an amendment would help in resolving the conflicts between the Humans and the Elephants in the areas especially in and around the forest regions.

 

Introduction:

 A broad definition of human-elephant conflict is “any human-elephant interaction which results in negative effects on human social, economic or cultural life, on elephant conservation or on the environment”. The conflicts between the Humans and the elephants, which were happening from the past have become more worse in the recent years. The causality rates are increasing in both the sides due to these conflicts which are happening in the country especially in the villages.

 

which are adjacent to the forest areas. The human beings are entirely responsible for these disaster happening, which leads to loss of lives from both the sides. The activities done by the human beings for their own selfish needs by entering into the forests which are the homes of the elephants, and converting these forest lands to agricultural lands and thereby taking away their right. As a result of such conflicts the death rate of the elephants are bring increased since the humans attack the elephants immediately when they see find an elephant inside the agricultural land or if it enters into the villages in search of food and water. And one of the main reasons for the death of the elephants is due to the rail tracks which passes through certain forests in India, causing large number of accidents when the elephant tries to cross the track to reach the other side of the forest. Statistics say that nearly 300 peoples may be killed each year in the conflicts between the humans and the elephants and also the elephants are being killed in this conflict. Though there are laws for the protection of the wild animals, in certain cases it is considered and used as soft law, especially when it comes to the elephants and its right of Passage in India. Since, the elephants area have been occupied and encroached upon by the people thus the humans themselves have made the way for the elephants to enter into the villages and attacking humans. The human-elephant conflict poses a grave threat to the continuance of their existence. These conflicts happens mainly because of the loss of their habitat and fragmentation (www.wwf.panda.org). When the elephant and the human interact there is a conflict from crop raiding, injuries and death caused by elephants and also the elephants are being killed by the humans for their ivory and also when there is a habitat degradation (Ibid). Such encounters would make the humans think that the elephants are a nuisance and they start killing them as it was done in North Eastern states of India and Sumatra in the year 2001, where more than 60 elephants were killed by poisoning kept by the plantation workers.

 

The impact of the presence of agricultural lands adjoining the forests by converting the forest land to agricultural land, makes the elephants difficult to find food and water for their survival due to the shrinking of the forest areas and they tend to enter into these agricultural lands in search of food and thus upon entering into these lands the humans have a problem with the elephants, in order to chase away the elephants they use electrical fences around their lands, burst crackers and so on causing harm to the survival of the elephants. On the other hand the conflicts between the elephants and the humans arises when the humans enter the forest and kill the elephants for their ivory, skin, bones etc. , but in this case the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 clearly states the person who kills the animals for poaching will be given a rigours punishment leading to sentence of mandatory three years extending to 7 years and also with fine. To the contrary, there is no express provision in order to safe guard the Right of passage of the elephants in India.

 

In the recent years the need for the preservation of the elephants and their corridors have been felt and many plans and committees have been set up but still there is no convincing changes which have been seen till date. This is because there is no proper legislation and sufficient funds provided to the forest department for taking necessary steps regarding the protection of the interest of the elephants. This paper would focus mainly on the life cycle of the elephants and their habitat and with that knowledge talk about the need for the preservation of elephant corridors in India as well as the need for the inclusion of the word ‘Elephant Corridor’ in ‘The Wildlife Protection Act-1972’ (The Wildlife Protection Act 1972), thereby the rights elephants will be protected by a Statute and it would resolve a larger number of conflicts between the humans and the elephants. This paper would also discuss about the results if such an amendment is made to the Wildlife Protection Act-1972 which as a result would protect the Elephants as well the forests as a whole which will also be helpful for all other animals in the wild and also the preservation of the environment. In this paper before going into the crux of the paper, i would be explaining about the elephant habitat, their way of lifecycle as well as various committees set up for the protection of elephants and speak whether such projects were helpful in safeguarding the animal. These are the most basic informations which is to be explained in order, through which the need for the protection and preservation of ‘Elephants’ as well as the emergence for the addition of the term “Elephant Corridor” in the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 can be stressed upon.

 

The Elephant Behaviour :

 

The elephants are considered to be of traditional culture and is recognised as the National Heritage animal. The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is facing a lot of threat in India, mainly because of human interference with the wildlife. The crux of the problem is one that affects all wildlife in the country is the ‘land’ (RIGHT OF PASSAGE: NATIONAL ELEPHANT CORRIDORS PROJECT -Wildlife Trust of India). The Indian elephant is a native species to mainland Asia. These elephants are considered to be the subspecies of the Asian Elephants.

The diet of the elephants majorly consists of grass, bamboo trees, leaves etc. , and the average adults diet ranges form 130 kgs to around 150 kgs of food per day as well as it drinks around 30 to 50 litres of water a day.

 

Among the entire population of the Asian elephants, about 50 to 60% of the population of wild elephants and nearly 20% of the domesticated elephants are living in India. In past though there was no census or estimation of the population of the wild elephants exist, it is believed that in the early 17th century the Mughal Emperor Jahangir had around 113,000 captive elephants throughout his empire. Assuming from this it is believed that over one million elephants would have been live in the forests of India.

 

Wild elephants in India are facing a variety of problems, but most focus around the usual issues of habitat loss and human-elephant conflict. These have been on the increase since the middle of the 20th century as the explosion of the population and the demands of economic development led to the clearing and cultivation of former elephant habitat (Elephant Conservation in India. www.EleAid.com). As a result this the forest lands are shrinking which reduces the forest cover as well as it destroys the path of the in which they migrate from one place to another. It also results in less availability of food for the herbivore since the forest cover is being reduced and being converted into agricultural lands.

The elephants are considered to have a good memory power, it can remember the path in which they used to travel when it was a young one. The Elephants migrate from one place to another and they usually follow the path which was showed to them by their ancestors and all the members of the family will follow the same path which they had used earlier by their ancestors. The intrusion of human beings by encroaching their pathways in which they migrate and convert into agricultural lands and as a result when the Elephant comes in that path which was their corridor once. When a elephant comes in that path where there is agricultural lands there starts the problem of human-animal conflict since the human claim that their livelihood is being affected because of the animal entering into their fields and villages and they all have a mindset of killing or harming the animal when they see it, which leads to lot of causalities. There would be no problem if the humans had not encroached upon the forest lands which are the home for many wild animals moreover the availability of enough food for their consumption will also be in scarce in the forest and it wouldn't come out of its home into the human habitat in search of food and water.

Why is there a need for the care of this animal?

The encroachment made by the humans have led to the shrinkage of the forest cover in many parts of the country and as a result there is no enough food and water for the elephants and hence they enter into the lands which were supposed to be their migrating path in the past. The elephants follow a single migration path and because of the increasing developmental activities made by the human beings their migrating path with are called as the ‘Corridors’ have been now made into agricultural lands or has been made into a human settlement. India has by far the largest number of wild Asian elephants in the world, estimated at 27,312 according to the 2017 census, about 55% of the species’ global population. They range in 29 Elephant Reserves spread over 10 elephant landscapes in 14 states, covering about 65,814 Sq km of forests in northeast, central, north-west and south India. But if that seems like a vast amount of territory, consider that Elephant Reserves include areas of human use and habitation – in fact unless they lie within existing Reserve Forests or the Protected Area network, Elephant Reserves are not legally protected habitats in themselves (RIGHT OF PASSAGE: NATIONAL ELEPHANT CORRIDORS PROJECT -Wildlife Trust of India).

The recent survey shows that the population of the elephants have been reduced to a considerable extent when compared to the present day situation . This reduction in the number of population of the elephants clearly depicts the destruction of the forests done by the human activities and these lands are converted into lands which are used for commercial purposes.

The elephants are considered to be one of the most important animals with a ancient history. Moreover the elephants are being considered as lord Ganesha according to the Hindu beliefs. Their presence is very important and helpful in improving the forest lands, as well as the other wild animals are being benefitted because of these elephants.

The elephants are the keystone species. Their nomadic behaviour – the daily and seasonal migrations they make through their home ranges – is immensely important to the environment (RIGHT OF PASSAGE: NATIONAL ELEPHANT CORRIDORS PROJECT-Wildlife Trust of India). The migration process of the elephants help in the following things namely- seed dispersal, landscape architect, nutrition, water providers, food chain and also in the umbrella effect.

The seed dispersal is because the elephants eat a lot of plants, fruits and seeds and when they travel they release the seeds when they defecate there by helpful in spreading a variety of plant species through its migrating path which benefits the biodiversity. They are landscape architect because, the migration of these animals prevent the overgrowth as well as they don't allow certain species of plant to grow thereby helping in the regeneration of the forests (ibid). The elephant dung provides nourishment to the plants and animals and acts as a breeding ground for insects (Ibid), during the drought seasons they dig holes to find water which is also benefiting other animals in the wild and also their large footprints help collect water during the rainy seasons thereby helping the small creatures. There by preserving and providing a large area for the elephants to move freely without any hindrance, will also help in providing a suitable habitat for other animals there by it helps to fulfil the umbrella effect. Therefore, reducing the population of the elephants ,making them unable to move freely through their corridors will cause a devastating effect on the India’s natural heritage, causing imbalance in the ecosystem in the wild, thereby eventually leading to the extinction of India’s National Heritage Animal and one of the ancient species on the planet.

 

Whether there is a need for a new legislation, for the protection and preservation of the Elephants in India?

In India, since the time of the British rule there was legislations regarding the protection of the Wild Elephants namely The Elephants Preservation Act, 1879. This Act mainly focussed on the punishments regarding the killing, capturing, and the keeping of the tusks and such penalties, but has failed to discuss about the Elephant Corridors and to make laws regarding the protection of their living areas and their migrating paths, which were followed by them from a longer period of time as compared to the humans, from being destroyed and encroached thus making them homeless. Moreover the legislations which are currently present though seats about the Protection of Animals which also include the elephants as well but they are mainly focussing on the projection from poaching, killing of animals, illegal trade of the animal products etc. , and provide punishment for the same but the same doesn't fall when concerned to the protection of the corridors as such though the Wildlife Protection Act mentions for the protection of forest. But, the term protection of forest seems a little wage since there is no proper definition as what is considered as a forest as such. Though there is a law protecting the forests, it doesn't protect the corridors which are called as the migrating path or pathways which are used by the animals.

At present, many wildlife enthusiasts as well as forest officials have felt the need for the protection of these corridors which play a major role in the animal habitat, especially the Elephants. Recently, there are many projects which are taken up by the forest department for the protection and conservation of the elephants and its corridors but the expected outcome couldn't be achieved since there was no clear cut and proper backing of law regarding the Preservation of the corridors. All over India, many such projects were adopted but they are still working on it in a slow process as it requires a lot of fund and the Forest Department is not provided with such huge amount of funds from the Government for the removal of such villages which are adjacent to the forest areas and helping them resettle in other places away from the forest areas such that the conflicts between the humans and the elephants can be reduced. But in India there are more than 150 elephant corridor which has been identified, and among these corridors there are corridors which run between different states and also there are certain elephant corridors which has its connection with the bordering countries.

There are about 138 elephant corridor within the states of India and 28 Inter- state corridors. Lastly, there are 17 International corridors (www.moef.nic.in) through which the elephants in India migrate throughout their lifetime and will be continued by their family. Though there are more forest cover in India, these forests are all not connected to each other and the movement of the elephants from one forest to the other is through this corridor and due to rapid development happening in India there is a lot of encroachment being made into these corridors thereby affecting the passage of the elephants. Though there are laws for the protection of the elephants from poaching, using it for entertainment purposes etc, but there is no strong law or any provision mentioned in the Wildlife(Protection) Act 1972 in order to safeguard the elephant corridors. Thereby there wasn't any importance given to the elephant corridors and they were encroached by the people leading to many conflicts that had occurred between the humans and the elephants. If the provision regarding the protection of ‘elephant corridor’ had been defined earlier there would have been very minimal loss to human and elephants lives. Before the independence there was a legislation named the Elephant Preservation Act 1879, which was enacted during the British rule for protecting the elephants since the British felt the population of the elephants has been reduced to a considerable extent and hence this Act was enacted. And later after the Indian Independence there was ‘gaming’ allowed and was practised in India. The population of the elephants was in lakhs and as a impact of ‘gaming’ the population had reduced from lakhs to merely few thousands and hence in the year 1972 the Wildlife Protection Act was brought in order to safeguard the lives of all the Wild Animals as well as the wildlife in India, from that time various amendments had been made to the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, for strengthening of the various provisions regarding the protection and safeguard of the wildlife and wild animals and also introduced various provision during the amendment for fulfilling its purpose as given in the preamble of this Act. Regardless of all these Amendments which are made to the Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Act,1972 there is no definition or any provision regarding the “Animal Corridor” or “Elephant Corridor” has not been defined which is one of the major drawback and loophole for the people living near the forest areas and have encroached upon the forest lands, there by becoming one of the root cause for the human-elephant conflicts that happen within the Country. If these terms were defined in the earlier Act then, even the various railway tracks running through the National Parks and Sanctuaries would not been constructed to the extent of the present day. Though, there would have been some exceptions wherein there is no other alternative rather than constructing through these forests would have made less intervention of the train tracks as well as roads into these areas which would have lead in reduction of the number of deaths of the elephants being run over by the trains which come in-between their corridors.

Conclusion:

In the recent years the need for the preservation and the protection of the Indian Elephants have been realised by the Forest Department and various other organisations which are eager in saving the wildlife. Nowadays, the Judiciary has also felt the need for the protection of this Elephant and it has been striving hard to protect this animal from extinction since the Elephants are considered as one of the ancient animals as well as portrayed as Lord Ganesha in India. Though, the judges try hard to protect these ‘Corridors’ there is no strong or strict law which defines the ‘elephant corridor’ and has not prescribed punishments for the people who cause any harm to these corridors. Recently, in the case of A. Rangarajan & ORS v. Union of India Ministry of Environment and Forest & ORS, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed for the safeguarding of the Elephant Corridor in the Mudhumalai wildlife Sanctuary in the Nilgiris District. This case filed in the Hon’ble Supreme Court has been pending for nearly six years. One of the reason for this delay is that there is no provision defining the ‘elephant corridor’ and also the measures and punishments to be given for those who are intruding into their pathway. Adding on there are many projects which have been initiated but due to this loophole in the law and no proper funding by the Government to the forest department since there is no proper and strong legal backing given to these elephant corridors it becomes very difficult in protecting their pathway for their migration purpose and at the same time prevent the conflicts that occur between the humans and the elephants. Thus, there should be a provision defining the ‘elephant corridor’ in the Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Act 1972 such that the whole of India will follow the same law through the country thereby making the work of the Judges simpler in deciding the matters when it comes to the Elephant corridor there by promising speedy justice delivery to all the concerned people. Though the elephants have been included as endangered species under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, though the elephants are been given a high protection under the law the lack of the provision protecting its pathway imposes a greater threat to these ancient animal and the National Heritage Animal of India.