Cheetah reintroduction will rejuvenate grasslands, says Jairam Ramesh

Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh welcomed the Supreme Court’s approval for the reintroduction of Cheetah into the Indian wild and said that it will rejuvenate grasslands.

Ramesh was delivering a lecture ‘Jayachamaraja Wadiyar (JCW) and the Indian Board of Wild Life’, organised as part of the third segment of H H Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar birth centenary celebrations, at Senate Bhavan, here. It was also the birth anniversary of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar.

Ramesh said, the last maharaja of Mysore and Central Board for Wild Life, which was renamed as Indian Board for Wild Life, had identified that the animal was in the verge of extinction in 1952.

Wadiyar was appointed as the first chairman of the board following the suggestions of then minister for food and agriculture K M Munshi. The then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru too had agreed to it, the MP said.

Wadiyar had organised the inaugural meeting of the Board at Lalitha Mahal Palace in Mysuru and the only animal identified by Wadiyar  and the Board that was to become extinct soon was Cheetah.

“It is the only mammal to have been hunted to extinction in India in modern times. Its last sighting is a matter of some conjecture — one expert believes that it was last seen in 1964 in Chhattisgarh, while another says, it was last seen in 1967 near Hyderabad,” Ramesh said.

Ramesh said, when he took over as Minister of Environment and Forests in May 2009, he made attempts for its reintroduction. There were plans of getting cheetahs from Iran, Namibia or South Africa for reintroduction in grasslands habitats in either Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh.

“I left the ministry in July 2011 and thereafter, the reintroduction Cheetah project went through numerous twists and turns, finally landing up in, of all places, the Supreme Court,” he pointed out.

“When we protect animals, we also protect ecosystems. Project Tiger, for instance, has not only saved that magnificent animal but also helped save our forests,” he said. Ramesh also highlighted Wadiyar’s passion for wild life and his contributions.

Sri Jayachamarajendra Prashasthi was conferred on musicologists T S Satyavathi, Sukanya Prabhakar and R Satyanarayana (posthumous). Nandakumar, son of Satyaranarayana, received the award.

President of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar (SDNR) Foundation Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, Kamakshi Devi and Indrakshi Devi and others were present on the occasion.