Hyderabad: About 122 years after Lady Curzon took the first step to conserve the unique one-horned rhinos in Assam, the BJP led government in the state on Wednesday took yet another bold step for conservation of the endangered species by burning 2,479 confiscated rhino horns, which is expected to dispel the myth that rhino horns have 'medicinal value'.
By burning the confiscated rhino horns, stockpiled since 1970s, the government sent a strong message of awareness that the horns of dead rhinos do not have any value and hoped that it would discourage the poachers from killing the animal for its horn.
In 1905, Lady Curzon during a visit to a tea estate near Kaziranga spotted the one-horned rhinos, which was used to be hunted abundantly by the British Sahibs then. Mesmerized by the sight of the animal, Lady Curzon, wife of the then Viceroy of India Lord Curzon, persuaded her powerful husband not only to put a restriction on killing the majestic animal but also to declare the area as a reserved forest in 1905 (June 1, 1905).
Later on, the one-horned rhinos not only became the state animal of Assam but also became a symbol of pride for the state, many state-owned corporations using the symbol of 'charging rhino' as their emblem.
Although subsequent governments at the state and Centre since independence had enacted different acts to protect the wildlife, it failed to stop the poaching of one-horned rhinos for their horns. There is a myth that rhino's horns can cure diseases like cancer. The horn of the rhinos had always been in high demand for its alleged use in some traditional medicines in South Asian countries including China, where it is also used as an aphrodisiac.
Due to the unabated poaching the one-horned rhino in India, which was declared as 'endangered' in 1975, went further down to be categorized as ‘vulnerable’ in the 2008 Red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
According to statistics, 92 one-horned rhinos were poached in the rhino habitats in Assam in 1983, followed by 67 and 68 rhinos poached in Assam in 1992 and 1993 respectively. Although the poaching of rhinos reduced in later years, it sored up during 2000 and soon poaching of rhino became one of the major political issues in Assam.
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The then Chief Minister Late Tarun Gogoi led Congress government in Assam drew huge flak over rhino poaching since 2001. In the year 2014, poaching of rhinos have reached the figure of 38 from the protected areas in Assam, 35 in Kaziranga national park alone. In 2012 and 2013, Assam recorded poaching of 26 and 28 rhinos respectively.
Protection of the one-horned rhinos also remained one of the major pre-poll promises of the BJP that came to power in 2016. The saffron party that formed the government in Assam for the first time under the leadership of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal adopted a hardline approach to stop the poaching, enacting laws not only to deter the poachers from killing the species but also armed the forest protection force with sophisticated weapons to counter the poachers.
Immediately after coming to power, the BJP government led by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had shifted the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) to Kaziranga from Guwahati and asked the department officials to curb the menace of poaching. In 2018, the then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal appointed 90 youths in the elite force christened Special Rhino Protection Force (SRPF) to curb the menace of poaching.
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The government raised the special force using the local youth hailing from the fringe areas of the Kaziranga National Park and they were tasked to man the Kaziranga National Park, Orang National Park and Manas National Park—the three main rhino habitats of the state.
The same year, the BJP led government distributed 272 numbers of INSAS rifles, 954 numbers of SLRs, 133 numbers of 12 bore Pump Action Guns, 20 numbers of 9 mm pistols and 91 ghatak rifles among the forest personnel to contain poaching. The state budget for 2016-17, had also kept a provision of Rs 10 crore for purchase of modern arms for forest department under the scheme ‘Modernization of arms and equipment for protection of tiger reserves and rhino bearing protected areas of the state’.
The government had also set up 10 Wildlife Fast Track Courts for speedy proceedings against poachers and wildlife criminals the same year.
As the 2,479 confiscated horns were consigned to flames on Wednesday, Assam hopes that the move will prove to be a step further not only in checking the rhino poaching but also to reduce the demand for rhino horns in the international black market.
Read: Assam government all set to burn 2,479 rhino horns on Wednesday
