Assam sees 28.6% drop in environment-related offences even as national cases rise

Guwahati, Dec 28: Although incidents of environment related offences have gone up nationally, Assam has witnessed a substantial decline in the number of such cases registered.

The State recorded a total of 55 environment related offences during 2023, as per latest data from the Central government.

Of the total cases in Assam, 26 were registered under ‘The Forest Act & The Forest Conservation Act, 1927’, while 18 were under ‘The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972’ and 11 were reported under ‘The Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003’.

The total number of cases in Assam in 2023 declined by 28.6 per cent on an annual basis as compared to 2022 when the State had reported 77 environment related offences.

This came about even as the number of such incidents across India went up by 30.38 per cent year-on-year to reach a figure of 68,994 in 2023, as against 52,920 in 2022.

Offences registered in Assam under the head were quite low if the data from all the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India are taken into account.

Tamil Nadu with 41,304 incidents of environment related offences was at the top of the table, followed by Kerala with 8,786 cases and Rajasthan with 7,794.

Among the other top five States, there were 4,854 such cases in Maharashtra and 1,804 in Uttar Pradesh during the year under review.

The other north-eastern States also registered very few such offences in 2023, the latest year for which data has been released by the Central government.

There were 16 cases in Meghalaya, five in Tripura, three in Mizoram, and one each in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, while Nagaland did not report any incidents that year.

A total of 75 persons were arrested in Assam for being allegedly involved in environment related offences during 2023, while 55 were chargesheeted.

Nationally, as many as 62,831 persons were arrested for their alleged involvement in such incidents.

Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, Secretary General and CEO of biodiversity conservation NGO Aaranyak, termed the latest data as positive.

“To take one example, earlier there used to be a lot of incidents of rhino poaching in Assam. Now such cases have come down to a significant degree. In addition, there has been improvement in ensuring conservation and protection in the national parks and reserved forests of the State," he said.

"The police and enforcement agencies have also become much more proactive in the matter. There was a time when the police used to believe that it is only the responsibility of the Forest department to deal with environmental-elated crimes. In contrast, now we observe that police personnel are taking a more active role in curbing such practices", he added.

"The complimenting role of the enforcement agencies has become better. Besides, I also feel that the monitoring system from the top levels have also improved in Assam. That may have also made the enforcement agencies take their job seriously,” he said.

Dr Talukdar added that there has also been an increase in public awareness regarding environment and wildlife.

“The common citizens are getting involved in various activities, including tree plantation drives, in bigger numbers. Diversification of livelihood among poor people residing near national parks and forest areas may have also played a role in reducing cases of illegal tree felling. Overall, it is a good trend. It is a concerted effort by all the stakeholders,” he added.

Dr Talukdar said that laws related to environmental protection and wildlife conservation have been enforced more strictly in Assam in recent years.