A
Supreme Court (SC) order that
stopped rampant deforestation in North
Eastern India, especially
Assam, has rendered the 1200
domesticated forest working elephants
and their mahouts jobless reducing
them to street beggars accepting
whatever people offer.
Plans to have the elephants moved to
South India which houses elephants in
temples are non-starters as elephants
are classified under Schedule 1 of the
Wildlife Protection Act which
prohibits their transfer, sale, or
movement within India. This law was
created to control the rampant
poaching of wild elephants for their
tusks and also illegal trapping of
young calves for “donations” to
temples. With this inclusion, those
practices have been contained to a
large extent.
This is a classic case of the
judiciary having to fill in where the
legislature and administration have
failed. Previously, the SC ordered
that all garbage be incinerated
creating a storm with
environmentalists who shudder at the
idea of thousands of poorly managed
incinerators spewing smoke and vastly
increasing global warming. That order
has since been rescinded.
The political class used to creating
quick fixes, is now thinking of
removing elephants from Schedule 1 to
protect these domesticated ones and
not worrying about compromising the
wild cousins. This move will fail not
only the domesticated ones but also
the wild ones since all restrictions
on illegal trade will encourage
poachers and forest mafia to run
amuck.
The right answer is what
Sri Lanka has done. In Pinnawela
Elephant Orphanage, they have housed
hundreds of elephants orphaned,
maimed, and abandoned by decades of
civil war. If an economically depleted
Sri Lanka can fund such a cause,
surely an economically vibrant India
can create such a sanctuary.
