India: 301 elephants & 1,401 humans died in the man-elephant conflict in the last 3 years

About 301 elephants and 1,401 humans died in the last 3 years due to man-elephant conflict, as told by Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament on Monday.
A total of 115 elephants died in 2018-19, 99 in 2019-20, and 87 in 2020-21. The number of people who died during the same period was 457, 585 and 359, respectively, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, said in a statement laid on the table of the House in reply to a question on ‘human-elephant conflict’ raised by MDMK MP Vaiko.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) provides financial and technical assistance to states/ union territories under the centrally sponsored scheme ‘Project Elephant’ for the protection and conservation of elephants and their habitats in India.
Many other centrally sponsored schemes being implemented by the MoEFCC contribute to the development of the natural habitat of elephants by augmenting water sources, planting fodder trees, regeneration of bamboo, etc.
The Rajya Sabha was told, Such schemes include the Development of Wildlife Habitat and Project Tiger. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act 2016 and the Rules made thereunder also provide for use of the fund for the development of wildlife habitats, including for elephants, the establishment of animal rescue centres, etc., which also contribute to the reduction in human-elephant conflict,
The ministry had also issued a guideline for the management of human-elephant conflict on 6th October 2017, and the elephant range states were requested for the implementation of the same.
Critical elephant habitats are notified as ‘Elephant Reserve’ for focus and synergy in elephant conservation and to reduce conflict.
Till now, 30 elephant reserves have been established in 14 major elephant states, the statement said.
The steps taken by the government of Tamil Nadu to address human-elephant conflict included the creation of various barriers such as elephant-proof trench, solar fence, construction of walls, driving straying wild elephants into the forests, creation of water bodies, fodder resources, boundary perambulation, etc.
The Tamil Nadu government also carries out time to time inspection of sagging and low laying electric lines and their maintenance and also withdraws free electricity to farmers booked under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.