Assam: Rhino numbers rise, but rampant poaching continues

Assam’s biggest success story belies one of its worst records: the hardy rhinos are growing in numbers despite rampant poaching with sophisticated assault rifles and not a single conviction of poachers over the past five years.

Updated on: Mar 31, 2015, 24:20:52 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Assam’s biggest success story belies one of its worst records: the hardy rhinos are growing in numbers despite rampant poaching with sophisticated assault rifles and not a single conviction of poachers over the past five years.

A-rhinoceros-stands-in-flood-water-at-Kaziranga-Wildlife-Sanctuary-in-Assam-PTI-Photo

The forest department’s biannual census in Kaziranga National Park shows a healthy upswing in the rhino population — from 2,330 two years ago to 2,401 in 2015 — although a hundred of these majestic endangered animals fell to poachers’ bullets for their prized horn that fetches millions of dollars in the clandestine international animal parts market.

At the same time, a reply to a right to information (RTI) application reveals that the state hasn’t been able to convict a single of the 243 people arrested for poaching since 2009.

“It is really sad that those accused of killing rhinos are roaming free,” said Rohit Choudhary, the RTI applicant and wildlife lover.

Many arrests have been made but these hardly acted as a deterrent because the majority of cases are pending in court, shows data provided by the state government.

The RTI reply says showpiece Kaziranga and three other wildlife havens in Assam witnessed the maximum onslaught on rhinos.

As many as 93 cases have been reported during the period and most of the poachers were armed with AK-47 and AK-56 rifles, confirming the worst fears of conservationists and security agencies that extremist groups were behind the killings.

The prime accused in a number of cases were leaders of extremist groups such as the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) and Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers, the RTI reply says.

“Weapons such as assault rifles point to the involvement of extremists in poaching,” a forest official said.

A rhino horn fetches around $1,00,000 a kilo (Rs 62.50 lakh) and there are indications of a alarming tradeoff: militant groups supplying sophisticated arms to poachers in return for cuts from the lucrative illegal trade to finance extremist activities.

The RTI reply says a KLNLF leader gave AK-56 rifles to poachers in 2012, two years after the group declared a truce with the government. None of its leaders have been arrested, though.

In April 2013, police intercepted exchanges between Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers leaders that revealed rebel arms and ammunition were provided to kill a rhino.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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