New Delhi: The central government is planning to translocate 14 to 16 more cheetahs to India over the next few months under the second phase of “Project Cheetah”, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday, asserting that “preserving wildlife is a very important part of our tradition”.
The government launched the ambitious “Project Cheetah” last year with the goal of reintroducing the species to its former habitat in India, 71 years after the last recorded cheetah was hunted down in Chhattisgarh in 1952. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight cheetahs from Namibia on September 17 last year in Kuno National Park under Project Cheetah, which is world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project. The cheetahs were reintroduced as part of the ‘Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India’ prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India.
Sharing the government’s plans for the next phase of the ambitious project, Scindia told reporters: “Fourteen-sixteen more cheetahs are expected to be translocated to India in the coming months. At present, the government is working on the second phase of Project Cheetah and has signed a pact with South Africa. Cheetahs will be translocated from South Africa.”
The government’s strategy for wildlife conservation is based on four key pillars — population, policy, people and infrastructure, he added.
“Since 2014, the population of tigers has recorded a 33% rise in India, from 2,226 to 2,967 in 2018. The number of Asiatic lions has also gone up, from 411 in 2010 to 684 in 2020; while the leopard population has increased to 12,852 ,” he said.
The population of rhinoceros has also risen in the northeast from 2,600 in 2016 to 3,000, while the number of elephants across the country have increased from around 27,000 in 2007 to over 32,000, he added.
The Union minister also emphasised on the importance of protecting nature for future generations, saying that there is no space for a linear economy now. “We must follow the recycle, reuse, remake, re-engineer & reproduce model, rather than the linear make and dispose of model, to sustain resources for future generations,” he said.
“Preserving wildlife and ensuring that it thrives is a very important part of our tradition as well as our treasure for us to maintain, develop and grow in a fiduciary role for the generations to come,” Scindia said, stressing on the Centre’s 360-degree approach to ensure protection and sustainability of wildlife.
In response to a query, he said that the Prime Minister wearing a jacket made of recycled plastic in Parliament is also a message to the world.
“My father was very closely involved in wildlife conservation and I have been a wildlife enthusiast from a very young age. For me, it is an area of personal interest and passion,” he said.
