The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: the schedules

Prelims and MainsCurrent affairs on this: Biodiversity and wildlife law in India

The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 protects species, declares protected areas and polices wildlife trade. Where a species sits in its schedules decides what the law does for it. The 2022 amendment, in force from 1 April 2023, cut the schedules from six to four: Schedule I for the animals with the highest protection and heaviest penalties, Schedule II for lesser protection, Schedule III for specified plants, and Schedule IV for specimens in the CITES appendices, which India now regulates through this Act. The old Schedule V of vermin is gone.

• The State's Chief Wildlife Warden administers the Act, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau polices trade, and the National Board for Wildlife, chaired by the Prime Minister, sits at the apex; under Section 62 the Centre can declare an animal outside Schedule I vermin for an area and a period. The Central Zoo Authority, also statutory under the Act, recognises and regulates zoos and oversees conservation breeding in them.
• Penalties sit in Section 51 and are not organised schedule by schedule. The general penalty in Section 51(1) for any contravention is imprisonment up to three years, or a fine up to Rs 1 lakh (raised from Rs 25,000 in 2022), or both.
• The aggravated penalty in the first proviso to Section 51(1) is three to seven years and a fine of at least Rs 25,000 (raised from Rs 10,000), and it covers four things: an offence relating to a Schedule I animal or its trophy or article, hunting in a sanctuary or national park, altering their boundaries, and an Appendix I specimen under Schedule IV. On a second offence the minimum fine is Rs 1 lakh.
• Schedule I examples: tiger, Asiatic elephant, one horned rhinoceros, great Indian bustard, gharial, Indian pangolin. The 2022 amendment also moved the golden jackal into Schedule I, the basis of the criticism that conflict prone species now sit beside the tiger. Schedule II examples: nilgai, wild pig. The rhesus macaque was dropped from the schedules altogether.
• Schedule IV is run by a Management Authority (Section 49E) and a Scientific Authority (Section 49F), both created in 2022. Chapter VB carries no penalty of its own, so its contraventions fall under Section 51(1), with Appendix I specimens under the aggravated penalty.
• Other 2022 changes: Section 62A lets the Centre regulate or prohibit invasive alien species; a captive elephant held under a certificate of ownership may be transferred under the Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024, with the Chief Wildlife Warden permitting; a Standing Committee of the State Board for Wildlife was created under Section 6A; and an animal notified as vermin is now deemed not to be in Schedule II for that area and period. The National Board's recommendation is mandatory before a park or sanctuary boundary is altered.

Mains: A species' schedule fixes the penalty, not its conservation status; the IUCN category fixes the status, and CITES fixes whether it may be traded, so the three lists answer three different questions.

Further reading: The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021 (PRS India)

See also: The three lists: IUCN, CITES and the WPA schedules · National Board for Wildlife · Protected areas: the categories