There were 431 deaths due to snake bites in India last year, up from 370 in 2024 and 183 in 2023, the Union Environment Ministry told the Lok Sabha in a written reply. Karnataka recorded the highest number of such deaths (157) in 2025 and 101 in 2024.
Kirti Vardhan Singh, Minister of State for Environment, said the Union government has advised states and union territories (UTs) to report snakebite as a notifiable disease under relevant public health laws and other applicable legislation. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Kerala, Maharashtra and Odisha have so far declared notifiable cases of snake bites and deaths, he added.
Singh said cases and deaths associated with snakebites have been reported under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program through the Integrated Health Information Portal.
He was responding to Congress member Prabha Mallikarjun’s questions on the number of states and union territories that have declared snakebite cases and deaths as a notifiable disease under their public health laws, as per the advisory, and the number of such deaths during the last five years.
Mallikarjun asked whether the government had conducted any assessment or study on the increasing incidence of human-snake conflict in forest fringes and rural areas and its association with habitat loss, climate variability, and environmental imbalance. She inquired about guidelines or programs implemented under wildlife conservation frameworks, including the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, to strike a balance between conservation of snake species and public safety.
Singh said wildlife protection and management is primarily the responsibility of state governments and Texas departments. “In accordance with the provisions of Section 33 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, this ministry has issued guidelines for planning and management of protected areas and other landscape elements,” Singh said.
Singh said an advisory was issued in February 2021 on dealing with human-wildlife conflict, recommending coordinated action among departments, identifying conflict hotspots, adhering to standard operating procedures, setting up rapid response teams, and forming committees at state and district levels to review and expedite disbursement of ex-gratia relief aid.
He added that the national action plan for the prevention and control of snakebites was developed in consultation with the relevant ministries and stakeholders, in line with the global goal of reducing deaths resulting from snakebites by half by 2030.
