Terms of Reference of the Task Force are as follows:

For Wild Elephants:

· The Committee shall recommend measures to strengthen elephant conservation in the country and keeping in view the Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972 suggest amendments needed, if found necessary.

· The Committee shall devise an institutional framework for Project Elephant exploring and explaining the functioning of the same at the Centre and State level with the objective of ensuring that it receives the same impetus and is brought at par with Project Tiger.

· The Committee shall identify, catalogue and define the elephant reserves and ranges at the landscape level. The Committee shall simultaneously develop a framework for preparing long-term perspective plans for elephant ranges.

· The Committee shall examine issues relating to human-elephant conflict and recommend appropriate short-term and long-term solutions.

· The Committee shall recommend appropriate methodology for the tracking, estimating and the monitoring of wild elephants. It shall also recommend measures for specialised training of the field staff in the states if requires.

· The Committee shall also explore any other issues that it may find relevant to its charge.

For Captive Elephants:

· The Committee shall, keeping in view the socio-cultural and religious sentiments attached to the same, recommend future strategies/guidelines for suitable human use of elephants;

· The Committee shall, with regard to the use of captive elephants, recommend measures, guidelines and standards for:

o Training and certification of Mahouts

o Veterinarian care and Management guidelines

o Creation of rescue centres

o Monitoring of captive elephants

o The Committee shall develop general and uniform rules for the better upkeep and care of captive elephants and any matter in furtherance of the same.

Composition of the Task Force

Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan - Professor, Deptt. Of History,University of Delhi and Expert, Forestry and Wildlife history - Chairman

Mr. Ajay Desai - Member, Steering Committee, Project Elephant and Co-Chairman, IUCN Specialist Group on Asian Elephant, Belgaum, Karnataka - Co-Chairman

Dr. R.Sukumar - Prof, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISC Bangalore, Karnataka - Member

Dr.P.S.Easa - Member, Steering Committee, Project Elephant and former Head, KFRI, Trichur, Kerala - Member

Mr. Vivek Menon - Executive Director, WTI, New Delhi - Member

Dr.S.Vincent - Member, Steering Committee, Project Elephant & Department of Advanced Zoology, Loyola College Chennai, Tamil Nadu - Member

Ms.Suparna Ganguly - Trustee & Vice President, Compassion Unlimited Plus Action(CUPA) Bangalore, Karnataka, Member

Dr.B.K.Talukdar - Secretary General, Aranyak and Member NBWL, Guwahati, Assam - Member

Mr.Brijendra Singh - Member, NBWL and National Conservation Tiger Authority, New Delhi - Member

Dr.Sushant Chowdhary - Scientist, WII, Dehradun - Member

Mr.A.N.Prasad - IGF & Director, Project Elephant - Member Secretary