New Delhi, December 04, 2008: The population of wild elephants in Manipur was 12 in 2002 as against 30 in 1997.Sources from the Ministry of Environment and Forest said today that Manipur had 50 elephants in 1993 census.

As per All India census of wild elephants of the country excluding North East States undertaken in 2007, the country's elephant population was 18,663.In 2002, the country's elephant population was 26, 413.The all India enumeration of wild population of elephants in the country was carried out in 2007, except the North Eastern States.

Total population of elephants in 2002 in North East States was 8951.Assam had highest number of elephants with the figure of 5246, Meghalaya 1868, Arunachal Pradesh1607, Nagaland 145, Tripura 40, Mizoram 30 and Manipur 12 only.

A large area of the forest land in the country has been under unauthorized occupation or encroachment.

Approximately 16.2 lakh hectare forest area in the country has been under encroachment.

The Union Territories of Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Puducherry do not face this problem.

Protection and management of forest areas is primarily the responsibility of concerned State/UT Governments.

Ministry of Environment and Forests has issued guidelines to State/UT Governments to get the encroached land evicted from ineligible encroachers.

The state of Assam shows highest area, i.e.almost 3.5 lakh hectare land under encroachment.

Andhra Pradesh has 2 lakh 93 thousand hectare and Madhya Pradesh has 2 lakh 40 thousand hectare lands under encroachment.

The total encroached area in the forest land in Manipur is 5244 hectares as on March 31, 2007.

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