Overpopulated animals to be marked as vermin: Javadekar

In a move to resolve increasing man-animal conflict especially those causing damages to crops, Environment ministry today said that it has sought report from the states to declare certain overpopulated animals as vermin for a limited period of time.
Once declared vermin, that particular species can be hunted without restriction.
"We had issued a circular in this regard earlier also. In areas where farmers are facing huge problems due to animals, there is a procedure to declare them as 'vermin' like blue bull and wild boar for a particular period of time," said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
"As soon as we get states' response on this, we will give them permission to decalre such animals as 'vermin' for a limited period of time," he said.

If implemented, it will apply to wild animals listed in various Schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972. The provisions to declare wild animals as problem animals are already there in the WPA, the Minister said.
Listing one year's achievements of his Ministry, Javadekar said 20,000 hectare of land has been added to forest land for afforestation while approving projects.

"Whenever we give approval for a project on forest land, they are supposed to provide equivalent land on non-forest land. This way, in past one year, we have managed to add 20,000 hectare to the forest land," he said.

The government in past one year gave approvals to 5,500 projects of which more than 3,200 were submitted online.
Speaking on measures taken for increasing forest cover, Javadekar said new guidelines are being prepared to make 1,00,000 Joint Forest Management Committees more effective and plan is on the anvil for improving fodder and water in protected areas.
"The availability of fodder and water in a forest is very crucial as the lack of it encourages animals to come out for food," he said.
The Minister also said that the government has decided to launch new diploma and degree courses in Animal Welfare. "The courses will be started by our National Institute of Animal Welfare in collaboration with other universities," he said.