Unscientific & Unjust- India's New Tiger Reserve

The center recently declared Madhav National Park in Madhya Pradesh as India's 58th Tiger Reserve for which the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this on X 

“Amazing news for wildlife lovers! India is blessed with wildlife diversity and a culture that celebrates wildlife. We will always be at the forefront of protecting animals and contributing to a sustainable planet,”

Nothing could be further from the truth. Madhav National Park is located next to Kuno National Park, where the Modi government has introduced Cheetahs from Africa. This was done against the advice of the scientific community and Supreme Court order of 2013 that directed Gujarat to translocate a pride of Asiatic Lions to Kuno in Madhya Pradesh. Since their arrival in Kuno, Cheetahs have repeatedly escaped from the national park going as far away as a 150km towards Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Given this situation, one would think that the government will provide additional protected area for the Cheetahs of Kuno. Instead, they have gone and introduced Tigers just 40km away in the neighboring forest of Madhav National Park and now declared it a Tiger Reserve! 

The reason they have done this is because politicians are running the show at the state and center, instead of IFS officers and scientists. In my recent article on World Wildlife Day - Post: Edit, I have emphasized the need for India to formulate a new form of Wildlife Governance run by qualified passionate people, instead of politicians who are inflicting damage on our wildlife and their habitats. 

As per the latest data released in parliament, 286 Lions died in Gujarat in just the past 2 years - that's almost 6 times the death rate of our Tigers! The main reason is a lack of protected area for these big cats. Kuno was originally slated for the Gir Lions back in 2007 and by now several protected areas in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh would have prevented such deaths from happening. Instead, we now have Wild Cheetahs from Africa that are being subjected to the same political circus with some already dead and most in captivity.