Project : INDIA Elephant || Tindit India||

 Author: Javed Ahmed

The Indian elephant Elephas maximus occurs in the central and southern Western Ghats, Northeast India, eastern India and northern India and in some parts of southern peninsular India. A total number of Elephant reserves in India is 32. The Indian elephant’s most striking features are the long trunk, which is prehensile (the elephant can grip objects with it), large ears, and tusks (on males). Males are solitary. Females lead the group or herd. Females (called “cows”) can usually breed when they are 10-15 years old. After a pregnancy (called the “gestation period”) of 22 months, they give birth to a single baby. Karnataka has the maximum number of elephants followed by Kerala. India's proposal to include Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant, and Bengal Florican in Appendix I of the UN Convention on migratory species was unanimously accepted at the thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) in Gandhinagar.

It is included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). It occurs in 16 of the 28 states in the country and is showing an increasing trend across its distributional range. Its population in 2007 was estimated to be in the range from 27,657 to 27,682, whereas in 2012 the population was estimated to be between 27,785 and 31,368. PROJECT ELEPHANT was launched by the Government of India in the year 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with the following objectives:

• To protect elephants, their habitat & corridors. 
• To address issues of man-animal conflict. 
• The welfare of captive elephants.

The Project is being mainly implemented in 17 States/UTs, viz. Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change provides the financial and technical support to major elephant range states in the country through Project Elephant.

Elephant Corridor- 

Stretch/narrow strips of forested land that connects larger habitats with elephant populations and forms a conduit for animal movement between the habitats. This movement helps in enhancing the species survival and birth rate. In India, there are 88 identified elephant corridors of which total only 70% used by elephants. Fragmentation of elephant habitat severity in the following order – 

 Northern WB → NW India → NE India → central India.

 

Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) Programme-

Project Elephant has been formally implementing MIKE (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants) programme of CITES in 10 Elephant reserves since January 2004. It is mandated by COP resolution of CITES. It was started in South Asia in 2003 with the following purpose - 

1. To measure levels and trends in illegal hunting of elephants. 

2. To determine changes in these trends over time. 

3. To determine the factors causing or associated with these changes and to try and assess in particular to what extent observed trends are a result of any decisions taken by the Conference of the Parties to CITES. 

4. Data are collected from all sites on monthly basis in specified MIKE patrol form and submitted to Sub-Regional Support Office for South Asia Programme in Delhi who are assisting the Ministry in implementation of the programme.