Elephant Corridors in India: Supreme Court Directs Nationwide Survey

Subject: GS 3: Environment

Context: The Supreme Court (SC) directed the Center to conduct a nationwide survey of elephant corridors and take measures to ensure their unobstructed passage across States. 

Case Background

• Plea before the Supreme Court: A plea alleged that fireballs were still being used against wild elephants in West Bengal to drive them away from human settlements and croplands, despite the Court’s 2018 directions.

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Key Observations and Directions of the Supreme Court

• No State can block elephant corridors: The Court observed that elephants travel across multiple States and, therefore, no single State can obstruct their traditional pathways.
• No physical blockades: Construction of obstacles or blockades in elephant corridors is unacceptable, even when elephants cause crop damage.
• Nationwide survey: The Center was directed to conduct a fresh nationwide survey to identify obstructions in elephant corridors and submit a comprehensive report on measures taken to prevent and remove them.
• Corridors transcend State boundaries: Elephant pathways are not State-specific, as herds naturally travel long distances across administrative boundaries.
• Inter-State movement: The Court highlighted examples of elephants moving across State and national boundaries:
  • Elephants move from Nepal through West Bengal to Jharkhand and other States.
  • Elephants in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, move towards Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
• Alternative approach to conflict: The Court emphasised that human–elephant conflict requires solutions other than constructing barriers along elephant routes.
• Ban on Cruel Methods to Drive Elephants: The Court directed the government to examine and ensure implementation of the ban on methods such as: Fireballs, Burning rods, Fire-torches (mashaals), and spikes.

Legal Protection of Elephants

• Schedule I Status: Elephants are listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which grants them the highest degree of statutory protection.
• Strict Prohibition: Hunting, capture, and other forms of exploitation of elephants are prohibited, subject to limited exceptions under the Act.

Role of Elephant Corridors in Reducing Human–Elephant Conflict

• Maintaining Natural Movement: Corridors enable elephants to move between feeding, breeding, and resting habitats without entering human-dominated areas.
• Reducing Habitat Fragmentation: Protecting corridors helps counter the impact of roads, railways, settlements, and agricultural expansion that fragment elephant habitats.
• Minimising Crop Damage: Functional corridors reduce the need for elephants to pass through farmlands and settlements, thereby limiting crop losses and livelihood-related conflicts.
• Preventing Dangerous Encounters: Avoiding blockades and encroachments on elephant routes reduces forced encounters between elephants and humans.
• Ensuring Landscape-Level Conservation: Since elephant corridors often cross State boundaries, their protection requires coordinated, landscape-level conservation across multiple States.

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