Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s much-favoured Project Cheetah is in doldrums.
The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) sanctioned `25 lakhs for a feasibility study conducted by chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India Dr M.K. Ranjisinh and wildlife biologist Dr Y.V. Jhala. Three sites in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were selected as proposed homes of the cheetahs. Mr Ramesh even visited South Africa in 2010 and claimed on his return that within a period of three years, cheetahs would be relocated from South Africa to India.
Rajasthan wildlife experts were, however, not enthused by this project with its former principal chief conservator of forests V.D. Sharma pointing out that the cheetah could hardly be described as an “indigenous” animal of Rahastan. Nor did Rajasthan’s forest bureaucracy want the cheetah to be relocated in Jaisalmer’s Desert National Park, as this was the last surviving home of the Great Indian Bustard.
“Translocating the cheetah to this environment would prove a threat to this already endangered bird,” Mr Sharma pointed out.
Madhya Pradesh was enthused with this idea and asked the MoEF to sanction `42 crores in November 2011 to relocate two villages from Kuno-Palpur in the state in order that some cheetahs could be brought in here.
Some biologists did point out that the grasslands in Kuno-Palpur could hardly be described as being appropriate for the cheetah, since most of these were being reforested. The numbers of the chinkara, which is the cheetah’s natural prey, are also diminishing.
Despite the Cabinet having sanctioned `50 crores for Project Cheetah, change of ministership in MoEF saw the tiger lobby start pressing for reutilisation of these funds for Project Tiger.
Mr Valmiki Thapar pointed out, “The MoEF needs to focus on saving our existing animals and not on those that we have already lost.” He was referring to the fact that during the Mughal Raj, emperor Akbar alone was known to keep over 1,000 cheetahs for hunting purposes. Though Mr Sharma adds that even as the Mughal emperors are known to have maintained hundreds of cheetahs, the records of the hunting expeditions conducted by the rulers of Bikaner, Jaipur and Durgapur do not make any reference to cheetahs.
So far the present minister, Jayanthi Natarajan, has remained uncommittal on this entire project as have her mandarins.