The rhino population in the country has "significantly" increased since last year taking the total number of the one-horned pachyderms to 2,401.
Terming it a "good" success of conservation efforts, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that although there were 20 rhino poaching cases, the government has also around 30 such poachers killed in various encounters.
"There has been a significant increase in the rhinos population in the country in comparison to last year.
"The rhino population has gone up by 70. The current rhino population is 2,401. It is a net increase of 70. Last year it was 2,330," Javadekar told reporters.
Javadekar said that last year, there was nearly 20 poaching incidences but more than 30 poachers were killed in encounters.
Elaborating about conservation efforts, the Minister said that the process of selecting "local candidates" who will be part of the Rhino Protection Force in Kaziranga has also been initiated.
"I went to Guwahati two weeks ago and held discussions with the Assam chief minister. The process of selecting local candidates who are staying around Kaziranga for employing them into Rhino Protection Force has begun.
"We have already sanctioned the budget and sent money. Now the selection has to be done. I hope it will be done within one month," he said.
He said that his Ministry has also created "Rhino friends" as part of the conservation efforts and already more than 31 rhino friends have been formed.
"They are active now and being trained properly. There are other measures being taken to avoid to accidental death," the Minister said.
These remarks come amidst reports that despite large scale poaching, not a single conviction of poachers over the past five years has taken place.
Reports based on a right to information (RTI) application reveals that the state has not been able to convict a single of nearly 250 people arrested for poaching since 2009.
Meanwhile, Javadekar said that 70 per cent of tigers in the world are in India as their total numbers are 2,226 and his Ministry has individual photographs of 1,700 tigers out of the total.
