World Elephant Day at Raipur, Chhattisgarh - August 2024

August 12^thmarks World Elephant Day, which is beingis celebrated with the goal of uniting global efforts to protect elephants, which are endangered across their range. As the global leader, India also observes the world elephant day. This year, the MoEFCC and the Government of Chhattisgarh cohosted the World Elephant Day event at Raipur.

The world elephant day was inaugurated by Hon’ble MEFCC, Shri. Bhupendra Yadav in the presence of Shri Vishnu Deo Sai, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Chhattisgarh and Shri. Kedar Kashyap, Hon’ble Minister, Forest and Climate Change, Government of Chhattisgarh and Shri Brijmohan Agrawal, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Raipur. Senior officials from the MoEFCC Shri. Jitendra Kumar, Director General of Forest & Special Secretary and Shri. Ramesh Pandey, Director Project Elephant along with officers from MoEF&CC and Senior officials from Chhattisgarh Forest Department including Shri V Sreenivasa Rao, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest & Head of Forest Force and Shri. Sudhir Agarwal, Chief Wildlife Warden, Ministry of Railway, Ministry of Power and State Forest Department were present during the event.

Addressing the gathering, Hon’ble MEFCC highlighted India’s pioneering role in taking elephant conservation ahead through range of participatory efforts and stressed on the need for cross-sectoral engagement to ensure elephant conservation and human welfare. Hon’ble Minister, EFCC stated that if we save elephants the forest will prosper, as elephant are known as“engineers of ecosystem”. Hon’ble Minister, EFCC stressed on the need of reducing human elephant conflict in the country.

The Minister conferred the Gaj Gaurav awards to the awardees for their exemplary contributions in the field of elephant conservation and management. During the event, the prestigious Gaj Gaurav awards were conferred to (1) Late Shri Bubul Gogoi, (Posthumous) Mahout, Assam (2) Shri Dinabandhu Barman, Head Mahout & Team, West Bengal (3) Shri Anaya Kumar Samal, Para Forest Worker, Odisha and (4) Smt. Sanghamitra Mahanta, Forest Guard, Odisha for his exemplary services. 

Further to the event, the 20^th Steering Committee Meeting of the Project Elephant held under the Chairmanship of Shri Bhupendra Yadav, Hon’ble MEFCC. In which the current issues facing elephant conservation and management were deliberated in brief.

During the event, the following publications were released by Hon’ble Minister EF & CC and other Chief Guests:

1. Recommended Operating Procedure for “Capture and Translocation of Elephants in Distress and Conflicts”
2. Framework for Preparation of Elephant Conservation Plan (ECP) for the Elephant Reserves
3. Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Elephant Reserves in India - Pilot Study & Revision of Criteria & Indicators
4. Elephant Reserves of India – Land use and Land Cover Version – 2
5. Trumpet - Quarterly Journal - Volume IV - Issue 04, August 2024
6. Field manual for Managing Human-Elephant Conflict (Odiya, Kannada & Tamil language)
7. Suggested Measures to Mitigate Asian Elephant –Train Collision on Vulnerable Railway Stretches (10 States)