WILDLIFE CRIME CONTROL BUREAU (WCCB)
- WCCB was constituted as a statutory body under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, on June 6, 2007 to combat wildlife crime in the country.
- The Bureau has been envisaged as a multi—disciplinary body with officials from Police, Forest Departments and Customs. It became operational in 2008.
- The Bureau has its headquarters at Delhi, five regional offices at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Jabalpur and three sub-regional offices at Guwahati, Amritsar and Kochi.
- WCCB has been tasked with the functions under Section 38(Z) of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.
WILDLIFE INSTITUTE OF INDIA
- Wildlife Institute of India (WII) was established in 1986, as an autonomous Institute of the Ministry.
- The Institute has emerged as a premier training and research institution in the field of wildlife and protected area management in South and South East Asia.
- Its mandate is to generate quality information and knowledge products in wildlife science provide advisory support to central and state governments.
CENTRAL ZOO AUTHORITY
- The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) was established in 1992 under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 to oversee the functioning of zoos in the country with the view to enhancing their role in conservation.
- CZA is a twelve member Minister of State Environment and Forests, Government of India is the ex-officio Chairman of the Central Zoo Authority and Member Secretary, Central Zoo Authority is the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority.
PROJECT ELEPHANT
- Project Elephant (PE) was launched by the Government in 1991-92 as a centrally sponsored scheme with the following objectives: to protect elephants, their habitat and corridors; to address issues of man-animal conflict; welfare of domesticated elephants.
- The Project is being mainly implemented in 17 States/UTs, viz, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Haryana (where an elephant rescue centre has been set up).
PROIECT TIGER
- The centrally sponsored scheme “Project Tiger” was launched in April, 1972 with the objective to ensure maintenance of a viable population of tigers in India.
- A detailed report on the country level status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India was released in July, 2011. This was the second round of country level snapshot assessment which indicates a countrywide increase of 20% in tiger population in 2010 with an estimated number of 1706 (1520-1909). The 2006 estimation was 1411 (1165-1657).
- At present, India has the maximum number of tigers and it is the source area amongst the 13 tiger range countries in the world.
ANIMAL WELFARE
- There are two statutory bodies viz. Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and the Committee for the Purpose of Control & Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) and a subordinate office viz. National Institute of Animal Welfare (NIAW), Ballabhgarh,
- CPCSEA is mandated to ensure that while conducting various types of experiments, in connection with medical research or education, animals are not subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering. The CPCSEA functions within the ambit of the PCA Act, 1960.
- NIAW has been conceptualized as an apex body in the field of animal welfare and its broad mandate covers the need to improve animal welfare through education, research and public outreach. The Institute has been operational since January, 2006. It conducts different training programmes on animal welfare.
