Two cheetahs move to new home in Madhya Pradesh

Context

• Two cheetahs, Prabhas and Pawak, moved to their new home as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav released them into the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday.

Project Cheetah

• It is an initiative by the Government of India to reintroduce cheetahs into the wild after they were declared extinct in the country in 1952.

• Project Cheetah involves importing cheetahs from Africa and establishing them in suitable habitats within India, particularly in national parks and wildlife reserves.

• The goal of Project Cheetah is to restore the ecological balance, promote biodiversity, and enhance wildlife tourism and conservation efforts in India.

• For this Project Cheetah, India has partnered with the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), an international organisation founded in Namibia dedicated to saving the cheetah in the wild.

Reintroduction

• ‘Reintroduction’ of a species means releasing it in an area where it can survive.

• Reintroducing large carnivores has become a widely recognised strategy for conserving threatened species and restoring ecosystem functions.

• Cheetahs are thought to have vanished from India after Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya hunted and killed the last three Asiatic cheetahs recorded in 1947.

• It was declared extinct by the Government in 1952.

• Under Project Cheetah, the Prime Minister of India released wild Cheetahs in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

• The Cheetahs introduced in the Kuno National Park were brought from Namibia.

• This is the world’s first inter-continental wild carnivore translocation project.

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

• It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

• It was established in 2006 under Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

• NTCA Composition:

1Minister in charge of MoEFCC (as Chairperson),

2Minister of State in MoEFCC (as Vice-Chairperson),

3Three members of Parliament, the Secretary (MoEFCC), and other members.

• The Authority lays down standards, guidelines for tiger conservation in the Tiger Reserves, National Parks and Sanctuaries.

• The Tiger Conservation Authority would be required to prepare an Annual Report, which would be laid in the Parliament along with the Audit Report.