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National celebrations of World Elephant Day 2026 were held at Visakhapatnam, where the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change conferred the Gaj Gaurav Awards 2026.
India has 33 Elephant Reserves, 150 scientifically identified elephant corridors and nearly 60% of the world's wild Asian elephant population.
A Regional Action Plan for Human-Elephant Conflict in Southern India — covering Karnataka, Keralam, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — was released with support of ₹500 crore from the Government of India.
Project Elephant, launched in 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, has completed more than three decades; a publication titled '30 Giant Steps' marking milestones from 2020 to 2026 was released.
The 23rd Steering Committee Meeting of Project Elephant was held at Visakhapatnam, and a nationwide awareness campaign with the National Museum of Natural History reached over 20 lakh students from 21,450 schools.
Protect elephants, their habitats and corridors, address human-elephant conflict and ensure the welfare of captive elephants
Key: Launched in February 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme providing financial and technical support to major elephant-bearing states. India now has 33 Elephant Reserves and 150 scientifically identified elephant corridors. Project Elephant also implements the CITES MIKE — Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants — programme in India.
Take a landscape-level rather than state-by-state approach to conflict across the southern elephant range
Key: Covers Karnataka, Keralam, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, prepared under Project Elephant in consultation with the southern range states, scientific institutions and subject experts, with ₹500 crore of support from the Government of India. It focuses on habitat connectivity, corridor conservation, early-warning systems, conflict mitigation infrastructure, habitat restoration, community participation, research and monitoring, rapid response mechanisms, capacity building and interstate coordination.
Recognise exemplary individual contributions to elephant conservation and management
Key: Conferred at the national World Elephant Day celebrations; the 2026 awards were presented at Visakhapatnam.
Provide healing, nursing and monitoring support for wildlife in the state
Key: Healing And Nurturing Units for Monitoring, Aid and Nursing of Wildlife — a state initiative described alongside the 'Conflict to Coexistence' motto, using modern technology, community engagement and capacity building of frontline forest staff.
A tiger can be conserved substantially within a protected core; an elephant herd cannot, because its seasonal movement covers hundreds of square kilometres and takes it repeatedly across land used by people. That is the reason India counts 150 identified elephant corridors alongside its 33 Elephant Reserves — the corridor is the unit that keeps populations connected and prevents the genetic and demographic isolation that fragmented habitat produces. It also explains why the new Southern India action plan is regional rather than state-specific: an elephant landscape spanning Karnataka, Keralam, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu cannot be managed by four separate departments acting on their own side of a boundary, which is why interstate coordination and habitat connectivity head the plan's list of components. The same logic brings unusual partners into the room: the workshop at this event included the Ministry of Railways, because railway-related elephant mortality and electrocution are among the leading causes of unnatural death, and neither is a forest department problem alone.
Simple Analogy: Protecting elephants only inside reserves is like building excellent bus stops and no roads between them — the animals need the connections more than the destinations.
Reviews issues in elephant conservation and management and approves key initiatives and publications; its 23rd meeting was chaired by the MoS (EFCC) at Visakhapatnam
Partnered Project Elephant in a nationwide mass awareness campaign that reached over 20 lakh students from 21,450 schools with painting and mask-making competitions, rallies, nukkad nataks and pledge ceremonies
The subject of a Model Elephant Conservation Plan released at the Steering Committee meeting; it lies in the southern elephant landscape covered by the new regional action plan
The Asian elephant is listed in Appendix I of CITES, the strictest category, which bans international commercial trade in the species and its parts — the basis on which the MIKE programme monitors illegal killing.
Railway-related elephant mortality and electrocution brought the Ministry of Railways into a conservation workshop, connecting this to environmental clearance, underpasses and mitigation structures on linear projects.
The shift from 'conflict' to 'coexistence' language, and from compensation to prevention through early-warning systems, mirrors the approach in leopard and tiger conflict management.
Project Elephant's remit includes welfare of captive elephants — the 'Captive Elephant Husbandry: Science, Welfare and Practice' publication released here sits alongside rules on transfer and ownership of captive elephants.
GS Paper 3 > Conservation of Biodiversity; Environmental Impact of Infrastructure
General Awareness > Environment and Important Days
General Awareness > Current Affairs
Project Elephant, elephant reserves and human-wildlife conflict recur in Prelims and in GS3 environment answers
A narrow strip of habitat connecting two larger elephant habitats, allowing movement between them; India has 150 scientifically identified corridors.
Encounters between elephants and people causing loss of life, crops or property — the focus of the new Southern India regional plan.
Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants, a CITES programme measuring levels, trends and causes of elephant mortality, implemented in India through Project Elephant.
The national award for exemplary contributions to elephant conservation and management, conferred on World Elephant Day.
Planning conservation across an ecological landscape spanning several states rather than within administrative boundaries — the design of the Southern India action plan.