🗞️ Why in News The Supreme Court, in Prerna Singh Bindra v. Union of India (order dated August 17, 2026), directed a fresh nationwide survey of elephant corridors and ruled that fears of crop damage cannot justify blocking wildlife movement.
What the Court Directed
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, asked the Centre to consider banning “fireball” and “hulla party” elephant drive-out methods, both of which involve using fire or organised crowds to forcibly push elephants away from human settlements, often causing injury or panic-driven fatalities to both elephants and people.
Why This Matters
Human-elephant conflict has intensified in India as corridor fragmentation from agriculture, mining, and infrastructure has narrowed traditional elephant migration routes. The Court’s direction for a systematic, updated national corridor survey responds to the gap between officially notified corridors and elephants’ actual, evolving movement patterns.
UPSC Relevance
This is a core GS3 topic covering wildlife conservation, human-wildlife conflict management, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and Project Elephant. A useful Mains angle discusses balancing agrarian livelihood concerns against habitat-connectivity conservation, and India’s Gaj Yatra elephant-corridor-mapping initiative.
📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia
Elephant Corridor Survey Order:
- Case: Prerna Singh Bindra v. Union of India
- Order date: August 17, 2026; Bench: CJI Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana
- Directs: fresh nationwide elephant corridor survey
- Asked Centre to consider banning: “fireball” and “hulla party” elephant drive-out methods
Other Relevant Facts:
- Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Sources: Bar and Bench, Verdictum
Source: Supreme Court Orders Nationwide Survey of Elephant Corridors, Bars Crop-Damage as Justification to Block Wildlife Movement — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs
