Driven by habitat loss, climate change and a burgeoning population, interactions between
humans and wildlife had become commonplace throughout the country. Over the years such
interactions led to significant loss of life and injury, destruction of livelihoods and reduced food
security while becoming a critical threat to biodiversity conservation efforts. The rapidly
escalating scenario turned into a crisis— making it a critical threat to both humans and wildlife.
To ensure accountability, the Supreme Court directed all states to actively consider classifying
human-wildlife conflict as a “natural disaster”, thereby prompting quick relief, faster access to
disaster management resources and a clear administrative responsibility.
A Supreme Court bench while hearing a case of ecological damage in the Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve issued the order and also held that all states are required to provide Rs ten lakh ex-gratia compensation for every human death caused by wildlife, mandatory under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH), a scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC). The Bench also underlined the need for quick release of compensation without delay and unnecessary hassles at the local level saying delays in relief often erode public trust essential to ensure community participation in conservation efforts.
Preceding the Supreme Court Judgment, Kerala, a state grappling with a spate of human-
animal confrontations, officially declared “human-wildlife conflict” (HWC) a “state-specific disaster” in May 2025 to accelerate relief, compensation and mitigation efforts.
Kerala has been the first state in India to take the step that allows the use of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for casualties, property damage and injury caused by wildlife. HWC remained a key election issue in the state and there have been protests in several constituencies— particularly in the plantation belts, driven by over 900 wildlife-related deaths in eight years. Angry voters have lambasted political parties for not doing enough to mitigate the conflict.
Government data revealed 1527 people lost their life in animal-related deaths (276 in elephant attacks) across the state in the last 15 years. The crisis had been a dominant topic in the 2024 Lok Sabha election too and locals in plantation belts and forest-fringe villages of Wayanad and Idukki have been demanding action from authorities. Wayanad remains one of the worst–affected districts where 149 people had been killed and over a thousand injured in animal attacks since 2014. Of that number 41 deaths were caused by elephants. Over the past six years, the state has spent over
79 crores in compensation covering, deaths, injuries and crop damage. With livelihoods
impacted by regular crop raids, frustrated farmers have been demanding effective solution from
political parties.
HEC emergency left out of election campaigns in Assam
Assam has remained a hotbed of human-wildlife confrontations. More than 20 districts of the
state have seen escalation in “human-elephant conflicts” (HEC) in recent years exacerbated by
climate change and growing human settlements on the edge of forests.
Elephants—the mega-herbivores with large home range and food requirements have been
among species most affected by habitat alteration and loss of habitat connectivity. Rapid
deforestation and fragmentation has resulted in isolated elephant populations with very limited
resources. Random growth of industries, industrial plantations, settlements in forest fringes, oil
exploration, mining of coal, infrastructure projects and growth of hospitality facilities in their
traditional migrating routes forced these long ranging mega faunas to change routes and
frequent newer areas.
Over the years the “conflicts” spread to most of the districts—Golaghat,
Nagaon, Karbi-Anglong, Hojai, Lakhimpur Jorhat, Majuli, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia to Kamrup,
Goalpara, Baksa and Udalguri. In fact Golaghat, Nagaon, Goalpara and Udalguri are now listed
as the worst hit districts. Elephants lost vital habitat and migrating routes with forests cleared for
tea-growing and other uses in the state. Rapid deforestation and human use of wildlife habitats
increasingly bring people and elephants face to face. Fear and insecurity on both sides lead to
mutual intolerance and often deadly outcomes. Farmers continue to lose a large proportion of their crop due to regular visits of the wild herds. Unable to cope with losses, many families prefer to abstain from farming.
In Assam, out of the 126 Assembly constituencies, at least half of the constituencies have faced
the severity of human-elephant confrontations that take a heavy toll on each side.
Data from Assam Forest department reveal that 875 people had lost their lives in elephant
attacks from 2010 to 2020 while some 825 elephants were killed during the same period. Last year, 81 people lost their lives to elephants in Assam. Deaths of 48 elephants were recorded
during the same time. Unfortunately, the raging crisis failed to draw attention of political parties.
The HEC emergency has failed to become an election issue in Assam. While human-animal
confrontations, often portrayed as an intensifying everyday crisis dominate our daily
conversations, news coverage and social media, the same has found little or no mention in most
poll campaigns or poll manifestos as Assam gears up for the upcoming Assembly polls.
Recurring narratives dominate election campaigns
As elections near, critical burning issues—often fade from the spotlight, replaced by identity
politics, populist freebies etc. From 2001, core issues on identity, security and infrastructure
gaps remained persistent issues dominating election discourse in the state. While infiltration
from Bangladesh has been the key issue since the 1980s and continue to provide staple for
election campaign in Assam, demographic shifts and land rights, ST status for six indigenous
Assamese communities, annual floods and erosion, unemployment and price rise, infrastructure
gaps are other key issues that remained pivotal in election debates. The high-stake Assembly
election in Assam has seen other emerging pivots—beneficiary politics to gain the loyalty of
voters coupled by development projects to strengthen connectivity, particularly for the ruling
party.
Although resistances to aggressive model of development—expansion of road projects,
industrial complexes or luxury resorts and hotels in forest and wildlife-bearing areas, industrial
plantation on agricultural land, emerging from the nexus of politicians and large corporate
garner popular support at times, they however, fail to shape election discourse.
Key environmental concerns, from climate change to protecting habitats and wildlife, measures on air pollution and river pollution, waste management, unregulated mining operations and above all the escalating human-wildlife confrontations have received little attention from political parties. Despite affecting a large share of the population, the escalating HEC emergency has largely been left out of election campaigns in our state. More striking has been the reluctance of the affected
communities to make leaders accountable. When the affected communities needed to make
candidates speak on long-term solution to this crisis, the noticeable silence questions whether
HEC, a critical everyday burning issue of the state has lost out to beneficiary politics.