World Elephant Day: Union ministry to honour mahouts from Tamil Nadu’s Malasar tribal community with Gaj Gaurav award

CHENNAI: The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change will honour mahouts and assistant mahouts in Kozhikamuthi and Varagaliar elephant camps in Tamil Nadu’s Anamalai Tiger Reserve with the Gaj Gaurav award. These mahouts and assistant mahouts belong to the Malasar tribal community.
The project elephant division of the Union ministry will present the award at a function in the Periyar Elephant Reserve in Kerala on Friday on the occasion of the World Elephant Day.
This award recognises the good practices adopted by the owners of captive elephants and outstanding work done by field officers, frontline staff, and private custodians in elephant conservation.

A committee was constituted, and nominations were received from across the country. The committee selected the Malasar tribal community for the award.