474 die in human-elephant conflicts in state during last 5 years: Union min (Ranchi) Dhrubajyoti.Malakar, Times of India February 12, 2025 Jharkhand reported a staggering loss of 474 human lives in man-elephant conflicts during the past five years, making the state's fatality figure second only to Odisha in the country. These alarming statistics were revealed by the minister of state for environment, forest and climate change, Kirti Vardhan Singh, in a written response to a question raised by Assam MP Ranjit Dutta during the ongoing Lok Sabha session. According to the response, the state recorded 84 human deaths in 2019-20, 74 in 2020-21, 133 in 2021-22, 96 in 2022-23 and 87 in 2023-24. Odisha with 624 deaths tops the list with West Bengal coming third (436 deaths). Assam (383) and Chhattisgarh (303) were placed fourth and fifth during the 2019-24 period. The northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland recorded the lowest number of such fatalities with two deaths each during the same period. The numbers are part of a larger trend with man-elephant conflicts resulting in 2,833 human deaths across the country during the period the same period. A maximum of 629 human deaths were reported in 2023-24. Along with the statistics, the minister informed that the management of wildlife, including mitigation and management of human-elephant conflict, is primarily the responsibility of states and Union territories. "The state forest departments are working with the locals to address the human-elephant conflict issues through periodic awareness campaigns to sensitise, guide and advise the general public on human-animal conflict, including dissemination of information through various forms of media. Further, the state forest departments are engaging with local communities to monitor the movement of elephants and alert them to avoid human-animal conflict, preventing damage or loss of human life, property and death of elephants," the minister added in his written reply. The ministry, in coordination with the state forest departments, has ground-validated 150 elephant corridors across 15 elephant range states in the country, including Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. It advised the state govts and the UTs to take necessary steps to protect and conserve the elephant corridors. In his response, the minister also said various measures were taken to mitigate human-elephant conflicts, including extending financial and technical assistance to states and UTs under the centrally sponsored scheme ‘Project Tiger and Elephant'. Apart from the conflicts, the move was aimed at the protection of elephants, their habitat and corridors, and the welfare of captive elephants across the country, he said. Talking to TOI, Shashikar Samanta, Jharkhand's PCCF (wildlife) said the state forest department has been taking various measures, including awareness drives, among the people to curb the number of fatalities due to elephant attacks. "The department has also been tracking the movement of jumbos and informing quick response teams posted in almost every district so that they can take prompt action to chase the elephants away from the vicinity of human habitats," the forest officer added. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/474-die-in-human-elephant-conflicts-in-state-during-last-5-years-union-min/articleshow/118154697.cms