Nod for Rs 300-cr cheetah project

Environment and Forest minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday approved the country's first experiment on re-introduction of the extinct species with allowing re-introduction of cheetahs from abroad in three landscapes — two in Madhya Pradesh and one in Rajasthan. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jul 29, 2010, 01:54:40 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Environment and Forest minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday approved the country's first experiment on re-introduction of the extinct species with allowing re-introduction of cheetahs from abroad in three landscapes — two in Madhya Pradesh and one in Rajasthan.

The project Cheetah is expected to cost Rs 300, fully to be borne by the central government, and 18 carnivores are expected to be in their new homes by 2012.

"I have already spoken to Iranian and Namibian governments for getting cheetahs," Ramesh said, after giving in-principle approval to the project.

Ramesh gave three reasons for importance of country's most ambitious wildlife project.

"Re-introduction is matter of national importance as cheetah is the only mammal to get extinct from India. Its name comes from Sanskrit. And, being a flagship species it can help in reviving dry-land ecosystems."

The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), an NGO and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), a government institute, conducted a survey in 10 dry land grasslands across five states, which once had cheetah population, till they went extinct about 50 years ago.

Of them, Kuno-Palpur wildlife sanctuary, where there is also a plan for re-introduction of lions from Gujarat, has been found to be best suitable.

"If the cheetahs and lions are introduced in Kuno, it will be a unique ecosystem where lions, cheetahs, tigers and leopards would co-exist," said M K Ranjitsingh, head of WTI.

For that to happen, cheetahs will have to be introduced before lions.

Second location identified is Shahgarh landscape on Indo-Pak border in Jaisalmer, where V K Jhala of WII said can be converted into an enclosed habitat for cheetahs by erecting a 140 kms fence. The border side of the national park already has a fence. The third location is Nauradehi sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

Both Jhala and Ranjitsingh said there are elaborate protocols for re-introduction of cheetahs from different weather zones and the ones in north Africa are most suitable for India.

"Cheetah's are being captive bred in large numbers in middle-east which can be brought here," Ranjitsingh said.

Jhala said the cheetahs, six in each landscape, could be introduced within a year of all approvals including consent from the state governments.

"To me, it will take three to four means for see return of Cheetahs to India," Ramesh said.

Return of the jungle cat

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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