Key Facts

  • Critical Mortality Metric: Uninsulated overhead high-voltage power lines and sagging transmission wires account for over 60% of accidental non-natural elephant mortalities in India over the past decade.
  • Mandatory Ground Clearance: CEA regulations prescribe a mandatory minimum vertical clearance of at least 5.5 to 6.5 meters for power lines traversing notified elephant corridors and national parks.
  • Insulated Cabling Mandate: Distribution companies (Discoms) must replace bare overhead aluminium conductors with Aerial Bunched Cables (ABC) or underground underground power lines in sensitive zones.
  • Rapid Response Circuit Breakers: Power substations flanking wildlife reserves are directed to install automated earth leakage protection systems and rapid fault detection circuit breakers to trip power instantaneously upon wire contact.

GK Context

  • Elephant Corridors in India: MoEFCC's landmark 'Elephant Corridors of India' report identified 150 critical elephant corridors across 15 states, with West Bengal and Odisha recording high habitat fragmentation.
  • Project Elephant: Centrally sponsored scheme launched in 1992 to provide financial and technical support to state wildlife departments for elephant habitat conservation and human-elephant conflict mitigation.
  • Gajah Soochna App: AI-powered alert system developed by Indian Railways and forest departments combining optical fiber sensors (Intrusion Detection System - IDS) to avert collisions along rail tracks.

Static GK

  • Species Classification: Asian Elephant (*Elephas maximus*) is India's National Heritage Animal (declared in 2010); listed as 'Endangered' on the IUCN Red List and under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
  • CITES Listing: Placed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), prohibiting international commercial trade.
  • MIKE Programme: Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) is an international program established under CITES to measure levels and trends of elephant poaching across South Asia and Africa.

Mains Analytical Framework

  • Infrastructure vs. Ecology Reconciliation: Linear infrastructure projects (railways, highways, transmission grids) fragment contiguous habitats; ecological impact assessments (EIA) must mandate pre-construction underpasses and canopy bridges.
  • Community Stewardship: Involving local tribal trackers and anti-depredation squads with fair compensation mechanisms fosters harmonious co-existence and minimizes retaliatory poaching.