World Elephant Day is celebrated today. India is home to nearly sixty percent of the world’s wild elephant population, with 33 Elephant Reserves and 150 identified Elephant Corridors .
As part of the celebrations, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav will participate in the celebrations today at Coimbatore. He will inaugurate a workshop in which experts will deliberate on best practices, ranging from habitat management and corridor maintenance to awareness generation and capacity building in high-conflict areas
India has elephant corridors in the North East hills, in Eastern States, , in the Ghat areas of Southern States and also in Eastern States like Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Project Elephant, implemented in 22 States is a centrally sponsored scheme and intends to protect elephants, their habitats and corridors. It also addresses issues of man-animal conflict and takes care of the welfare of captive elephants.
A genetic database of the Gentle Giants has been created through Gaj Soochna App in which datas of 300 captive elephants across India is available through DNA sampling. Tamilnadu also faces human-animal conflict and also has challenges like poaching incidents and elephant deaths due to electric fences and railway tracks.
The State also uses AI cameras on railway tracks to detect elephant movement and prevent collisions. On this day 12 lakh students from 5000 schools will be joining the awareness program on World Elephant Day in the State.
