Guwahati: The gentle giant is much safer in Assam now, as the Chief Minister of Assam, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, describes. It was a major promise made by the ruling BJP in their election manifesto in 2016 and 2021 to safeguard the pride of Assam, the One Horn Rhino.
It took the saffron party a few years. But the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Government in Assam can now take full credit for making Assam safer for the rhinos. There was not a single case of rhino poaching in Assam in 2022.
Since the BJP-led Government came to power in the State, there has been a significant decrease in rhino poaching. Be it Kaziranga National Park, Manash or Orang sanctuary.
During the 15 years of Congress rule in Assam from 2001 to 2016, not less than 172 one-horn rhinos were killed by poachers to snatch their valuable horns. Even in a few inhumane incidents, poachers cut the horn of rhinos which were still alive.
Such was the intensity of poaching that, between 2012 to 2016, at least 100 rhinos were killed by poachers, mainly in the Kaziranga national park. The figures for those five years are as such- in 2012, 11 rhinos were poached; in 2013-27, 2014- 27, 2015- 17 and in 2016- 18, rhinos were poached in the State.
Releasing the statistics on January 1, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the no-compromise attitude of the State Government towards poaching and poachers has brought down the numbers from two each in 2020 and 2021 to zero in 2022.
“It is good news for the State that a record has been created with zero number of poaching cases reported in the State in the last one year. This figure is not just of Kaziranga but of all the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries put together,” said Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Zero Poaching!
2022 was really special for our rhino conservation efforts. Not a single rhino being poached in 2022 & just 2 in 2021, the gentle giant is now much safer in Assam.
Kudos to @assamforest dept & @assampolice for their sincere efforts to protect the iconic animal. pic.twitter.com/mVIHsD0xFe
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 2, 2023
It should be mentioned that Himanta Biswa Sarma, after assuming charge as the Chief Minister, formed an anti-poaching task force headed by Special DGP GP Singh. Assam Police commando battalion personnel with modern firearms were deployed in Kaziranga and other sensitive locations. This aggressive move by the Government forced the poachers’ racket to back off. Locals in Kaziranga believe that the Government’s eviction drive is also helping the anti-poaching initiative.
The illegal migrant encroachers near the Kaziranga were a sheltered place for the poachers. After the eviction, the shelter was removed and hiding for the poachers became difficult. However, the people of the State appreciate the Government’s endeavour to end the rhinos’ poaching, which is considered an identity of the State.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauded the Assam Government’s relentless efforts in preventing the poaching of one-horned rhinos during his monthly radio address ‘Mann ki Baat’.
Former cricketer Kevin Pieterson also hailed rhino conservation efforts, with just two poaching in Assam in 2021.
The one-horned Rhinoceros, which is considered the ‘Pride of Assam’ had witnessed a terrible decline in population after being killed by poachers, especially in the Kaziranga National Park.
The one-horned rhinos is found only in the Brahmaputra valley, parts of North Bengal, and parts of Southern Nepal.
The Indian rhino is listed as vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. It was earlier placed in the endangered category. The World Wildlife Fund says the “recovery of the one-horned rhino is among the greatest conservation success stories in Asia”.
