The Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV 2020) came to a close on April 13, 2021 with the release of two rhinos — an adult male and a female — in Assam’s Manas National Park transported from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.
- The IRV2020 was designed in 2005 aiming to increase the rhino population in Assam to 3,000 by establishing populations in new areas.
- The vision is believed to have achieved its target of attaining a population of 3,000 rhinos in Assam.
- However, the plan has not succeeded in its effort to spread the Rhinoceros unicornis across four protected areas beyond Kaziranga National Park, Orang National Park and Pobitora.
- Assam had at least five rhino-bearing areas till the 1980s. These were Kaziranga, Orang, Pobitora Manas and Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Better conservation efforts helped maintain the population of the one-horned herbivore in Kaziranga, Orang and Pobitora, but encroachment and poaching wiped the animal out of Manas and Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary.
(Source: The Hindu)
