Project RE-HAB

Threats posed to Elephant Population

Poaching

• The demand for ivory leads to the illegal poaching of both African and Asian elephants.
•  Elephants are also poached for meat, leather, and body parts with the illegal wildlife trade putting elephants increasingly in danger.

Habitat loss

• The loss of habitat due to deforestation increases in mining and agricultural activities has become problematic, especially for Asian elephants.
•  The fragmentation of habitat also creates isolation and this makes breeding more difficult.

Human-elephant conflict

• It is a significant concern, as human populations increase and forest cover decreases, forcing elephants into close proximity with human settlements.
  • Incidents include crop damage and economic losses, as well as both elephant and human casualties.
• Between 2015 and 2020, nearly 2,500 people have lost their lives in elephant attacks across India out of which about 170 human fatalities have been reported in Karnataka alone

Mistreatment in captivity

• A lack of legislation regarding the care and treatment of elephants in zoos, circuses, and tourism often leads to their mistreatment.
• Captivity can be a serious threat to elephants, and Asian elephants are often illegally captured in the wild and trafficked into the lucrative tourism industry.

Government initiatives:

• Portal on Human-Elephants Conflict: The National Portal on human-elephant conflict called “Surakshya” for the collection of real-time information & also for managing the conflicts on a real-time basis.
  • It will help to set the data collection protocols, data transmission pipelines and data visualization tools to enable policy-makers to leverage HEC data for policy formulation and for preparation of Action Plans for mitigation of conflicts.
• Project Elephant (PE):It was launched in 1992 to provide financial and technical support to major elephant bearing States in the country for the protection of elephants, their habitats and corridors.
  • It is a centrally sponsored scheme and seeks to address the issues of human-elephant conflict and the welfare of domesticated elephants.

• Use of LiDAR technology:  The government is using LiDAR technology in order to provide fodder and water augmentation in forest areas so that animals will get food and water in forest areas and will not come outside.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC)

It is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament, In April 1957, it took over the work of former All India Khadi and Village Industries Board.

Objectives

• The social objective of providing employment.

• The economic objective of producing saleable articles.

• The wider objective of creating self-reliance amongst the poor and building up of a strong rural community spirit.