Increasing incidents of man-elephant conflict in Assam, especially in Nagaon, Hojai, West Karbi Anglong and Karbi Anglong districts, have raised serious concerns over deforestation, habitat destruction and ecological imbalance.

What is Human-Elephant Conflict?

• Human-elephant conflict refers to:
  • Negative interactions between humans and wild elephants.
  • Crop damage, property destruction, and loss of human and animal lives.

Major Causes of the Conflict

Man-Made Triggers

• Deforestation and Habitat Fragmentation
  • Illegal logging.
  • Encroachment of forest land.
  • Expansion of agriculture and settlements.
• Infrastructure Development
  • Railways, roads and other linear infrastructure disrupt elephant corridors.
  • For instance, the Kaziranga–Karbi Anglong landscape has fragmented elephant corridors, due to highways and tea plantations leading to frequent crop raids and human deaths.

Natural Triggers

• Climate variability and drought reduce food and water availability.
• Seasonal migration forces elephants into human settlements.

Situation in Central Assam

• Several hill ranges that earlier supported dense forests and bamboo vegetation have reportedly become barren.
• Loss of Sal forests, Bamboo plantations, Fruit-bearing trees has reduced food availability for elephants.
• As a result, elephants increasingly enter Paddy fields, Tea gardens & Villages.
• Areas such as Kandoli Reserve Forest, Chapanala forest, Doboka hills and Haengthol hills were traditionally important elephant habitats.

Government Schemes and Conservation Initiatives

• Project Elephant (1992): Launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

  • Objectives include:

    • Conservation of elephants.
    • Protection of habitats and corridors.
    • Reduction of human-elephant conflict.
• RE-HAB Project: Under this, Bee-fences are created by setting up bee boxes in the passageways of elephants to block their entrance to human territories.

  • Cost-effective way of reducing human-wild conflicts without causing any harm to the animals.

  • Initiative of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) under the submission of the National Honey Mission.

• Gajah Mitra Scheme: Focus on high-risk areas across the state where elephants and people frequently come into contact. 
  • Government will grow bamboo and Napier grass, two favorite elephant foods, to keep elephants from entering villages.

Exam Hook: Prelims Question

Project Elephant was launched in which year?
(a) 1973
(b) 1988
(c) 1992
(d) 2006

Answer: (c)

One-Line Wrap

The growing man-elephant conflict in Assam reflects the urgent need for habitat restoration, scientific conservation, and sustainable coexistence between humans and wildlife.