NEW DELHI: Mythology has it that Lord Vishnu incarnated as a giant turtle — the Kurma Avatar — to save Earth from destruction following the churning of the ocean, the Samudra Manthan. That was when the species was highly protected — to the point of reverence. Unfortunately, Earth isn’t a safe place for turtles any longer. Gangetic turtles are struggling to survive as they are being illegally hunted and smuggled on a large scale. And conservation efforts to restore their habitat are cramped as their funds have dried up. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has cut down habitat restoration funds by as much as 67% in the past five years (see table).
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized hundreds of Gangetic turtles under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 over the past few months. On December 11, the DRI’s Lucknow Zonal Unit seized 436 baby Indian Tent turtles from a person who was illegally transporting them out of the state. DRI officials found that the individual had received the consignment of baby Gangetic turtles in Kanpur. They were to be sent to West Bengal via Varanasi in a bus for supply to the grey market.
On September 30, the DRI had apprehended six persons with 955 live baby Gangetic turtles of different species at Nagpur, Bhopal and Chennai. The species included Indian Tent turtles, Indian Flapshell turtles, Crown River turtles, Black spotted/Pond turtles and Brown Roofed turtles.
There were other smaller instances of official seizures as well but they did not draw much public attention. In the current financial year, the DRI’s Lucknow Zone rescued as many as 1,721 baby Gangetic turtles in five separate cases in Uttar Pradesh.
Most of the seizures were in Uttar Pradesh, where the turtles are illegally hunted from the Ganga and its tributary Gomti as well as the Yamuna for onward transportation to West Bengal. West Bengal is a major transit point for smuggling wildlife out of the country, especially to Southeast Asian countries and China. Turtle meat is considered a delicacy especially in Bengal during winter. It is also sought after as a pet. Besides, it is in demand for medicinal purposes in the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets.
“In India, a community called ‘Kanjar’ consumes turtle meat in the belief that it cures tuberculosis,” says Sandeep Kumar Behra, Project Director, (Biodiversity), Namami Ganga Programme. Behra is involved in conservation of the flora and fauna around the catchment areas of the Ganga and its tributaries for the rejuvenation of the river.
Gangetic turtles are a protected species and under the red list – a threatened species – of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an international conservation agency of flora and fauna. Another international agreement, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), has Indian turtles under Appendix II, which means ‘near threatened’ and ‘control of trade’ requirements. Under the Indian law, Gangetic turtles are protected under Schedule I and II of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
“In the past few months, over 2,000 Gangetic turtles were seized from different districts like Raebareli, Prayagraj and Varanasi in three different instances of four DRI zones of Uttar Pradesh,” said Arunima Singh, a turtle conservationist. According to Singh, Odisha is another state where turtles are being hunted on a large scale. “Illegal trade and habitat degradation are major threats to these species,” Singh added.
Fund constraints
India is one of the world’s turtle hotspots, having 29 species of tortoises and freshwater turtles. The Ganga river in itself is home to 13 of these species. They play a significant role in scavenging dead organic materials, diseased fish, controlling fish population as predators and managing plants and weeds.
The present rate of anthropogenic activities and climatic shifts are major drivers of their habitat loss and fragmentation due to dams, reservoirs and barrages. Increasing river pollution and illegal sand mining threaten their nesting habitat. Moreover, lack of funds in habitat restoration is a major hurdle. The government has drastically reduced major wildlife conservation funds in the past five years. The Wildlife Habitat Development Fund has been reduced by two-thirds in the past five years. The MoEFCC’s data shows that the habitat development fund dropped like a brick from Rs 165 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 56 crore in 2022-23. (see table)
“Habitat restoration is the primary step towards conservation but lack of funds has slowed it down,” said an official. “There were already less funds for this work but now it’s completely dried up,” he added.