Ivory should not be burnt
No man-made law is permanent. What was illegal yesterday can become legal today. Laws are created to help the progress of human society. If a law is found to cause problems instead of helping people, a wise society will either amend it or remove it. For example, until recently, if a landowner could face criminal charges for cutting down a sandalwood tree grown on his own property. Now, if the Forest Department is informed beforehand, the tree can be cut legally without any case being registered. People elect democratic governments to revise outdated and impractical laws that cause unnecessary hardship. At the same time, some laws must remain unchanged to protect society.
Items listed as “negative goods,” such as narcotic drugs and cannabis, must be seized and destroyed. But elephant ivory under government custody should not be treated in the same way. Under a 2023 law, the Union Environment Ministry has directed Kerala to burn its ivory stock. The Kerala Forest Department currently holds more than 13 tonnes of ivory, with an estimated market value of around Rs 260 crore. These include tusks collected from elephants that died naturally and ivory seized in legal cases. It is difficult to agree with the idea of burning such a large and valuable stock. Ivory does not harm human health like narcotic drugs, so there is no need to destroy it in the same manner. At the same time, it cannot simply be kept in warehouses forever. This raises the question: what should be done with it?
The first step should be to put pressure on the central government to amend the law. States with large forest areas are the ones facing this issue. These states should jointly submit a memorandum to the Centre and seek changes that allow states the freedom to take suitable decisions regarding ivory stocks.
Before that, the government should appoint an expert committee to study and submit a report on how the ivory can be used without destroying it. Currently, government-owned ivory is stored in strong rooms at Forest Department headquarters, range offices, and district treasuries. Some ivory is also kept in courts as case property. The risk of theft or loss cannot be ruled out. Recently, ivory was reportedly stolen from a military camp in Pangode.
Therefore, the Forest Department cannot simply guard this large stock without taking any decision. The ivory could be used to make handicrafts, providing employment to skilled artisans. It could also be displayed in a museum.
If displayed with proper information, many people would visit the museum, generating steady income for the government through entry fees. Elephant poachers kill wild elephants for their tusks because there is a secret demand in the market. In a way, the strict ban on transferring ivory is being misused by poachers. Over time, such laws may not even fully protect elephant populations from decline.