Project Elephant

The Indian elephant Elephas maximus occurs in the central and southern Western Ghats, North-east India, eastern India and northern India and in some parts of southern peninsular India. It is included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). It occurs in 16 of the 28 states in the country and is showing an increasing trend across its distributional range. Its population in 2007 was estimated to be in the range from 27,657 to 27,682, whereas in 2012 the population was estimated to be between 27,785 and 31,368.

Project elephant was launched by the Government of India in the year 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with following objectives:

a. To protect elephants, their habitat & corridors

b. To address issues of man-animal conflict

c. Welfare of captive elephants

The Project is being mainly implemented in 16 States / UTs , viz. Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change provides the financial and technical support to major elephant range states in the country through Project Elephant. The Elephant Reserves of N.E India are shown in the following table

Sl No	Elephant range	Elephant Reserve	Date of Notif.	State	Total Area (Sq. Km)
1	Kameng-Sonitpur Landscape	1. Kameng ER	19.06.02	Arunachal	1892
	(Arunachal – Assam)	2. Sonitpur ER	06.03.03	Assam	1420
	Total				3312
2.	Eastern-South Bank Landscape	3. Dihing Patkai ER	14.04.03	Assam	937
	(Assam – Arunachal)	4. South Arunachal ER	29.02.08	Arunachal	1957.5
	Total				2894.5
3.	Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Intaki Landscape	5. Kaziranga-K.Anglong ER	17.04.03	Assam	1940
	(Assam-Nagaland)	6. Dhansirsi-Lungding ER	19.04.03	Assam	275
		7. Intaki ER	28.02.05	Nagaland	230
	Total				2245
4.	North Bengal-Greater Manas Landscape	8. Chirang-Ripu ER	07.03.03	Assam	2600
	(Assam-West Bengal)	9.Eastern Dooars ER	28.08.02	West Bengal	978
	Total				3578
5.	Meghalaya Landscape	10. Garo Hills ER	31.10.01	Meghalaya	3500
	(Meghalaya)	11. Khasi Hills ER		Meghalaya	1311
	Total				4831

Source: http://www.wiienvis.nic.in/Database/eri_8226.aspx

Source: http://www.assamforest.in