Modi to gift cheetahs to India on his birthday!
Bhopal: In the maiden transcontinental project of its kind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give a historic gift to the country in general and Madhya Pradesh in particular on Saturday – which is his birthday – by releasing Namibian cheetahs within Kuno National Park.
It was officially learnt that the world’s fastest animal will be released at 1030 hrs and the translocation of the carnivores would end a seven-decade-long hiatus.
Mr. Modi will plant saplings at Sheopur district’s Karahal helipad site under the Green Madhya Pradesh campaign at 1140 hrs. He is scheduled to commence addressing a conference of women self-help groups at the Model School Ground, Karahal, at noon. The Prime Minister will e-dedicate the Special Backward Tribes Group Skill Development Training centres at Shivpuri, Mandla, Shahdol and Tamia. He will interact with the ladies and seek input regarding entrepreneurship.
Governor Mangubhai Patel, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Civil Aviation and Steel Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Minister of State for Steel and Rural Development Faggansingh Kulaste, State Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah, Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Mahendra Singh Sisodiya, Tribal Affairs and Scheduled Castes Welfare Minister Meena Singh, MoS for Horticulture and Food Processing (Independent Charge) and Narmada Valley Development Bharat Singh Kushwaha, MoS for Panchayat and Rural Development Ramkhelawan Patel and state BJP President Vishnu Datt Sharma shall be among those gracing the occasion.
The cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952. Earlier, international wildlife experts held a discussion with the central and state dispensations vis-à-vis translocation. It is a matter of pride for the state that the Wildlife Institute of India found Kuno National Park to be the most suitable among ten places during a survey.
The Prime Minister will release the beasts in two enclosures. Two males will occupy the first and a female the second. A team of Forest Department officials has been imparted training in Namibian Cheetah Management Techniques. The integrated management of the project envisages a habitat for about two-dozen cheetahs over 750 sq km. Besides, about 3,000 sq km is suitable for free movement of the creatures in Sheopur and Shivpuri districts.
In the other context, as many as 3.86 lakh SHGs are working under the State Rural Livelihood Mission for women empowerment and orientation. More than 43 lakh families are associated with these groups. Work related to vegetable farming, milk production, incense sticks, hand wash, soap manufacturing, agriculture and animal husbandry-based activities in addition to operation of the Aajeevika Poshan Vatika are being executed by the groups. (UNI)