“The number of rhinos has gone up by 70 over the past year. This is our second success in wildlife conservation after the tigers,” said Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar here on Tuesday.

India's rhino population is concentrated in three reserves forests in Assam—Kaziranga, Orang and Pobitora. As per the Assam government figures, the state had 2,006 rhinos in 2006, 2,201 in 2009 and 2,505 in 2012.

Jaldapara and Gorumara forests of West Bengal and Dudhwa in Uttar Pradesh have some rhinos, too, but the numbers are far less.

Last year, their total number across the country was about 2,330. “Poaching is the single-largest threat to rhino conservation. Illegal trade is thriving because of the exorbitant prices rhino horns fetch in the black market,” Rathin Burman, a conservationist at the Wildlife Trust of India in Kaziranga, told Deccan Herald.

Javadekar said the Ministry of Environment and Forest provided Rs 14 crore to the Assam government to raise a rhino protection force, employing local youths.

Last year, there was more than 20 incidents of poaching, but 30 poachers were also killed, he said.

The number of rhinos poached in Assam was eight in 2010 and seven in 2011. Then it began rising, to 13 cases in 2012 and 12 in 2013.

“I went to Guwahati two weeks ago and held discussions with the Assam chief minister. The process of selecting local candidates staying around Kaziranga for the Rhino Protection Force has begun. We have already sanctioned the budget and sent the money. Now, the selection has to be done. I hope it will be done within a month,” said Javadekar.

A group of volunteers called Friends of the Rhinos has also been created to actively campaign for the pachyderms' protection.

Wildlife conservation is one of the green issues Prime Minister Narendra Modi will discuss with state environment ministers on April 6-7.