‘A step I first called for a decade ago’: Gaurav Gogoi welcomes Project Rhino, flags delay

Assam Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on September 25 welcomed the Centre’s initiation of Project Rhino but said the move came nearly a decade after he first raised the demand in Parliament.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the initiation of Project Rhino on September 22, on World Rhino Day, saying the programme would provide financial and technical support to rhino-bearing states for protection, habitat management, genetic improvement and understanding population dynamics.

Reacting to the announcement, Gogoi said he had first pressed for a dedicated national programme for rhino conservation in 2016, including funding for conservation measures and the creation of rhino corridors.

He said he followed this up in 2017 by introducing a Private Member’s Bill seeking the establishment of a National Rhino Conservation Authority. The proposed authority was intended to oversee rhino protection and conservation and frame guidelines for the management of rhino reserves. His bill was reported to have proposed an authority comprising representatives of the Centre, experts and rhino-bearing states.

Gogoi also referred to letters he sent to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2017 and 2019.

According to Gogoi, the Centre had rejected his demand at the time, arguing that rhino conservation was already being addressed under Project Tiger.

A letter dated April 24, 2017, from then Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Anil Madhav Dave to Gogoi, seen by India Today NE, stated that rhino habitats in India, except Jaldapara National Park in West Bengal and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, were located within tiger reserves.

The letter said rhino conservation was already receiving technical and financial support under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger, with the tiger being treated as an “umbrella species”. It listed measures including anti-poaching operations, conservation planning, wildlife disease surveillance and smart patrolling.

The letter also detailed steps being taken at Kaziranga, including the constitution of a Rhino Task Force, installation of e-Eye surveillance at a cost of Rs 2.65 crore, plans for a Special Tiger Protection Force and proposed testing of unmanned aerial vehicles.

It concluded that there was no need to constitute a separate National Rhino Conservation Authority at that stage, stating that “near identical initiatives” were already being carried out under Project Tiger.

Gogoi, however, said the government's latest move represented a change in position.

“PM Modi’s initiation of Project Rhino is a welcome step. But it is a step I first called for a decade ago,” he said in a post on X on Friday.

“After rejecting this demand for years, the government has now changed its position and adopted the very position I had consistently advocated,” Gogoi said.

He added that the record, in his view, showed a lack of timely action on a demand first raised in 2016.

Gogoi said the greater one-horned rhino remained a source of pride for Assam and India and expressed hope that Project Rhino would receive sustained funding, scientific conservation measures and effective protection of critical wildlife corridors.

The Centre's announcement comes as Assam continues to account for nearly 80 per cent of the world's rhino population. The Prime Minister has also highlighted conservation efforts in Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, including the reintroduction of rhinos in Dudhwa.