"Human–elephant conflict in India is as much a land-use problem as a wildlife problem." Discuss with reference to the Brahmaputra valley.

MoEFCC describes human–elephant conflict (HEC) as the harm people and elephants cause each other [2]. In Assam, this conflict has killed 1,147 people and 246 elephants since 2016, as stated in the Assam Assembly [1]. The Brahmaputra valley shows that the conflict comes as much from how land is used as from how elephants behave.

HEC as a wildlife problem

• Migratory behaviour: elephants usually follow the same routes every year [2]. GPS collars on herds in Udalguri, Sonitpur and Biswanath recorded over 38,000 locations across seasons [1].
• Feeding needs: the main reason elephants enter farms is crop raiding. When forests lack enough fodder, this raiding is "obligate" (forced) [2].
• Elephants as victims: retaliatory electrocution, poisoning and train collisions kill elephants. Assam is one of the states where train collisions happen often [2].

HEC as a land-use problem

• Elephants live outside forests: the collared elephants on the north bank used tea plantations, farmland and riverine land as well as forests [1]. Most of this land is outside the Forest Department's control.
• Fragmentation: conflict is worse where habitat is broken up and the boundary with human land is long and blurred [2].
• Settlements on elephant routes: MoEFCC names tea-garden labour lines and development in movement paths as a direct cause of HEC [2].
• Corridors: MoEFCC has ground-validated 150 corridors across 15 states, including Assam. It says States must still manage and protect them [3].
• Limits of barriers: fences built without landscape planning can block migration routes. In mainly farming areas, effective barriers are hard to build [2].

Way forward

• Use the GPS findings in Tracking the Giants to guide corridor protection and wildlife-friendly infrastructure [1].
• Plan barriers at the landscape level, with communities and gram sabhas involved [2].
• Join movement data with early warning for villages and quick compensation.

HEC in the Brahmaputra valley is therefore a single problem: a migratory species living in a fragmented, multi-use landscape. Elephant-centric measures alone cannot resolve it. India needs land-use planning that secures corridors and plans tea estates and infrastructure around elephant routes. Doing so would serve both Article 48A and SDG 15 (Life on Land) and make coexistence possible.