PM lauds state for no rhino poaching in ’22

Guwahati: Assam on Tuesday received compliments from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reporting zero poaching of the globally famed one-horned rhinoceros in 2022, a feat achieved for the first time in 22 years.
Sharing a tweet by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Modi tweeted, “This is great news! Compliments to the people of Assam, who have shown the way and been proactive in their efforts to protect the rhinos.”

Saving the rhinos in Assam from poachers was one of the main issues over which Modi used to attack the previous Congress governments when he campaigned for the 2021 state assembly election and flagged arrest of rhino hunters as one of the biggest achievements of the first BJP government in the state.
Sarma, in his tweet earlier, announced “Zero Poaching! 2022 was really special for our rhino conservation efforts. Not a single rhino being poached in 2022 & just 2 in 2021, the gentle giant is now much safer in Assam. Kudos to @assamforest dept & @assampolice for their sincere efforts to protect the iconic animal.”
Sarma also shared a graphics on the year-wise rhino poaching incidents, which runs with a title, “Assam now a Safe Abode for Rhinos.”
Since 2001, poachers have killed 187 rhinos in the animal’s natural habitats at Kaziranga National Park, Orang National Park, Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary and Manas National Park. Years 2013 and 2014 witnessed the maximum poaching of rhinos in the state — 27 in each year. Poachers kill the rhinos for their horn, which fetches astronomical price in international markets, especially in China, where the horn is believed to have aphrodisiac effects and is also in traditional Chinese medicine to cure cancer.
Former Assam CM and now Union shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal, retweeting the PM’s tweet, also expressed gratitude to the people and state government “for reaffirming the commitment towards protection and conservation of the rhino.”