Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Cheetahs are being reintroduced to India after being declared extinct in the country in 1952. </li><li>The reintroduction effort is aimed at creating a viable population of wild cheetahs.</li></ul>In mid-September, eight African cheetahs were airlifted from Namibia and brought to India, marking the first time the big cat stepped foot in the wild in the country since being declared extinct more than 70 years ago.The reintroduction, which was years in the making, was celebrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on whose 72nd birthday the cats arrived, as well as by other cheetah advocates and scientists."When the cheetah will run again … grasslands will be restored, biodiversity will increase and eco-tourism will get a boost," <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/cheetahs-reintroduced-to-india-after-going-extinct-in-the-country-70-years-ago">Modi</a>, who released the cats into their temporary enclosure, said, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/world/asia/cheetah-relocation-india.html">adding</a>: "Along with these cheetahs, the nature-loving consciousness of India has also awakened with full force."However, some big-cat experts told Insider while they support the idea of reintroducing wild, free-ranging cheetahs to India, the current effort seems more like a marketing stunt — one that's not sufficiently based in science.<h2>Saving cheetahs from extinction</h2>Cheetahs, the world's fastest land animal, were once widespread in India. They were declared extinct in the country in 1952 as a result of hunting and habitat loss."It is the only large mammal that India has lost," S.P. Yadav, secretary of India's National Tiger Conservation Authority, said, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/world/asia/cheetah-relocation-india.html">The New York Times</a>. "It is our moral and ethical responsibility to bring them back."Cheetah populations worldwide are also on the decline, with the total number in the wild estimated to be about 6,500, according to the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/219/124366642">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a>. The big cats now occupy just 9% of their historical range. The vast majority of the remaining cheetahs are in Africa, while a small amount of the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-asiatic-cheetahs-environment-/31646781.html">critically endangered Asiatic cheetahs</a>, the same subspecies that used to prowl India, remain in Iran."To save cheetahs from extinction, we need to create permanent places for them on Earth. India has areas of grassland and forest habitat, which are appropriate for this species," Laurie Marker, founder of the <a href="https://cheetah.org/">Cheetah Conservation Fund</a>, which has helped coordinate the reintroduction, told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/17/india-cheetahs-kuno-namibia/">The Washington Post</a>.The relocated cheetahs include five females and two males between the ages of two and six. The eight cheetahs were dropped off at Kuno National Park, south of New Delhi, where they are being quarantined and observed. The plan is to release the cheetahs into the larger national park, where they can prey on animals like deer and antelope, within a matter of months.The <a href="https://wii.gov.in/images//images/documents/publications/action_plan_cheetah_introduction_jan_2022.pdf">reintroduction plan</a>, which is estimated to cost about $11 million, aims to establish a viable, free-ranging population of cheetahs. The <a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1788373">plan</a> involves ultimately relocating around 50 cheetahs to the country in the coming years.<div type="image" title="Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi watching a cheetah after it was released in an enclosure at Kuno National Park, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022." height="2925" width="1777" msid="94743678" hostid="261" sizebytes="305334"></div><h2>A 'larger version of a zoo'</h2>There are major challenges with reintroducing a large predator to an ecosystem it has been absent from for decades. The cheetahs could face conflict and competition for food with other predators, like leopards, and there may not be enough natural prey to sustain the planned population size.Arjun M. Gopalaswamy, a wildlife and statistical ecologist who researches big cat and large mammal ecology, told Insider that as the plan currently stands, there's not enough space for the cheetahs.Gopalaswamy noted a paper he published in the journal Ecography in 2020 that found the density of a cheetah population, or the number of cheetahs per the amount of space, to be one per 100 sq km. The amount of space set aside for India's cheetahs is 750 sq km. With those numbers, the area would be large enough for only 7-8 cheetahs, not the dozens that are planned."This simply means that the Cheetah Introduction Action Plan has overestimated the number of cheetahs India's reserves can hold by several fold," Gopalaswamy, who is the founder and chief scientist of Carnassials Global, which provides science consulting to governments and NGOs, said. He added that he supports reintroduction efforts, but that the current plan in India "appears to rely almost completely on the cheetahs and their charisma" and that instead, he would like to see "a fully science-based approach."K. Ullas Karanth, the emeritus director of the Bangalore-based <a href="https://cwsindia.org/">Centre for Wildlife Studies</a>, agreed that the current plan was not grounded in science and told Insider it "will not lead to a restoration of a viable population of wild cheetahs, sustaining itself naturally in the long run."Karanth said the population would be augmented by bringing in additional cheetahs and other animals in order to boost the supply of available prey. Such a system, he said, "cannot be called reintroduction at all.""That would be simply a captive population of cheetahs in a larger version of a zoo," he said, calling it "largely a gimmick and a colossal waste of money."Karanth noted that cheetahs have naturally low reproduction rates and even in the best habitats in Africa the vast majority of cheetahs die before reaching breeding age. He said in India the cheetahs will face denser populations of humans and livestock, dogs, and predators like leopards, making their survival even more challenging. "I think the Indian bureaucracy and the 'foreign experts' have sold a 'creaky used car' to the gullible Indian public, media, and political leadership," Karanth said.Some conservationists have also noted that effort would be better spent trying to first save cheetah populations where they are already established but on the decline, before focusing on reintroduction.Still, proponents of the project are optimistic. Yadvendradev V. Jhala, dean of the Wildlife Institute of India and the lead scientist of the reintroduction effort, pointed to the success India has had in boosting other big cat populations, such as <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-019-03267-z">tigers</a>."The cheetah is a magnificent animal, it's a big magnet for ecotourism," Jhala told <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalgeographic.com%2Fanimals%2Farticle%2Finside-the-controversial-plan-to-reintroduce-cheetahs-to-india">National Geographic</a>. "If you bring in cheetah, the government will put funds into rehabilitating and rewilding these systems, and all the biodiversity will thrive."Marker, the founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, believes that despite potential challenges, she believes the big cats can adapt, <a href="https://cheetah.org/press-releases/cheetah-conservation-fund-and-namibian-government-to-send-eight-cheetahs-to-india-for-introduction-on-17-september/">noting</a> her group has spent 12 years consulting with the Indian government on how to reintoduce the cheetahs."Cheetahs are very adaptable and [I'm] assuming that they will adapt well into this environment," she told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/17/india-reintroduces-cheetahs-to-wild-after-big-cats-airlifted-from-namibia">AFP</a>. "So I don't have a lot of worries."Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at <a href="mailto:kvlamis@insider.com?inline-read-more">kvlamis@insider.com</a>.

India reintroduced 8 cheetahs after the big cats were wiped out 70 years ago — but some scientists say it's more of a PR stunt than a conservation effort

Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="narendra-modi" source="Orion">Narendra Modi</keyword> said on Saturday that he could not visit to his mother to seek her blessings on his birthday, but she will be happy to see that thousands of mothers have gathered to bless him on the day. The Prime Minister made the remarks while addressing the gathering of over one lakh women associated with self-help groups (SHGs) in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district. Prime Minister Modi on his 72th birthday visited to Madhya Pradesh where he released eight African cheetahs into enclosure at Kuno National Park. Following which, he graced a women SHGs conference being organised in Sheopur district. "I would have gone to my mother to seek her blessings on my birthday, if today's programmes weren't organised here. But, thousands of mothers have come to bless me here and after seeing all this, my mother would be very happy that I am getting blessings of thousands of mothers here," Prime Minister Modi said. He was welcomed with great enthusiasm by artists who performed tribal dance and other cultural programmes organised by the state government. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister recounted several women beneficiary schemes for women under his government. On the occasion, Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is a prominent political face from Gwalior-Chambal region, said that around 60 per cent area of Sheopur district have dense forest zone. "Sheopur is a very small district, however, it is filled with natural resources. There are several ancient temples of Lord Shiva and that is why this area was named Sheopur." Notably, Sheopur has two assembly seats - Sheopur and Vijaypur, and the BJP and Congress each has one MLA. However, the fact that, Sheopur, which is the part of Gwalior-Chambal region, is also considered the most remote area in the state and has highest malnutrition cases in the state. The women SHGs participating in the conference were those who run several initiatives being promoted under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). DAY-NRLM aims at mobilising rural poor households into SHGs in a phased manner and provide them long-term support to diversify their livelihoods, improve their incomes and quality of life. On the day, the Prime Minister also inaugurated four Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) skilling centres under PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/sc-admits-karnataka-govt-plea-on-online-gaming/articleshow/94260057.cms" style="">SC admits Karnataka govt plea on online gaming</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/hectic-jobs-in-retail-and-quick-service-restaurants-is-leading-to-high-attrition-report/articleshow/94250545.cms" style="">Hectic jobs in retail and quick service restaurants is leading to high attrition: Report</a>

PM addresses women SHGs conference in MP

Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="narendra-modi" source="Orion">Narendra Modi</keyword> on Wednesday assured the new generation entrepreneurs in the defence equipment world that the 'Made in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>' products will get priority in defence procurement. Sixty-eight per cent of the defence budget has been earmarked for indigenous products, he added. While inaugurating the defExpo-2022 here, the Prime Minister also launched the Indian Military Airworthiness Procedures (IMAP), HTT-40, Indian Defence Mart and defence <keyword id="15298793" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="space-msn" source="Orion">Space Msn</keyword> besides virtually laying the foundation stone for the DEESA Airfield. He said the country was once a net importer of defence equipment, but over the last eight years, defence manufactured in India is in demand across the world, and the exports have grown eight times. It has touched USD 1.59 billion, and the country targets to achieve the USD 5 billion mark in the next five years. Citing the success of the Brahmos missile, Prime Minister <keyword id="6354642" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="modi" source="Orion">Modi</keyword> said it is placed in one of the best technology missile categories and many countries have evinced interest in buying it. All three defence wings and indigenous companies' innovations are putting the nation on global armament nation. INS Vikrant aircraft carrier, Lightweight Helicopter 'Prachand' and tanks and indigenous combat guns are the pride of India, he said. "In the coming years, Space Diplomacy is going to take India to a new height as our satellites will be sharing real-time access with 60 developing countries. <keyword id="62000" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="maritime-security" source="Orion">Maritime Security</keyword> is a global priority and India has taken initiative in maritime security in the Indian Ocean region, in which 46 friendly countries are working on it," he said. Some 450 Memoranda of Understandings and agreements are going to be signed during these four days of DefExpo-2022. The Prime Minister, without naming the Congress, said, "Earlier pigeons were released, now Cheetah is now released, this is the difference of the government." He added in the past years, "our majority budget was going into importing defence equipment, now the time has changed. All three defence wings have made a list of 411 equipment which will be purchased from domestic manufacturers, only select items will now be imported," he added. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/indians-to-benefit-as-canada-aims-to-grant-citizenship-to-300000-people-in-2022-23/articleshow/94956352.cms">Indians to benefit as Canada aims to grant citizenship to 300,000 people in 2022-23</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/over-50-lakh-vehicles-deregistered-in-delhi-till-oct-17-this-year/articleshow/94956121.cms">Over 50 lakh vehicles deregistered in Delhi till Oct 17 this year</a>

68% of defence budget allocated for procuring indigenous equipment: PM

I am sure <keyword id="510747" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Seth-Rogen">Seth Rogen</keyword> would be forgiving toward my borrowing of this piece from his movie 'Pineapple Express', “If <keyword id="40905" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Marijuana">marijuana</keyword> is not made legal within the next five years I have no faith in humanity, period. Everyone likes smoking weed. They have, for thousands of years. They're not going to stop anytime soon. It makes everything better. Makes food taste better. Makes music better. It makes sex feel better, for God's sakes. It makes shitty movies better, you know?” 
 
While Mr Rogen might have said that in 2008, man's lineage to marijuana is over 5000 years old. 
 
The earth became proud parents when the dear 20th century was born. Racism fell from the high horses of grace. Sexism made an unsexy exit. Science and Technology became captains of the ship called 'future'. Bombs danced on the laps of political agendas, as the weaker nations were dressed to be depressed under the address of the sanction that geographical borderline disorders were indeed good for them. 
 
While Yellow Journalism, in the first half of the century, took the cake for manipulating people with its white lies about the concepts of drugs, people, and war, which eventually turned out to be black, was orchestrated mainly to contain the Hispanic migration crisis, chasten the quality of equality in the profound segments of race and gender, and increase the wealth and jurisdiction of the law-making and imposing establishments - it was indeed, a man called Harry J. Anslinger, the first and foremost commissioner to the newly constituted Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) in 1930, who was responsible for the criminalisation and the fate that marijuana is to made to live with, today. 
 
Backed by the Roosevelt administration, Mr Anslinger, the prophet who officially put marijuana behind the veil, joined hands with William Randolph Hearst, founder and owner of America's largest newspaper chain and an icon to American journalism, and went on a serial detonation spree of 'marihuana' (the aboriginal Mexican-Spanish attestation) like an atomic bomb in the vast networks of Hearst's newspapers proclaiming the “evils” of the “herbal demon” without a rhyme or a reason essentially linking its fame and notoriety to scapegoat the racial, ethnic, and social minorities. 
 
“Marihuana influenced negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows, and look at a white woman twice.” - A Hearst Newspaper in 1935. 
 
“Makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” - Harry J Anslinger. 
 
“Negro entertainers with their jazz and swing music are declared an outgrowth of marihuana use which possesses white women to tap their feet.” - Harry J Anslinger 
 In March 1961, under the administration of John F. Kennedy, <keyword id="2885066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Harry-J-Asnlinger">Harry J. Asnlinger</keyword> led the successful formation of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, an international treaty that codifies all existing treaties on drug control, including the cultivation of plants that were grown or caused to be part of raw material that came under the umbrella of narcotic drugs. Once signed, this convention also limits the manufacture, production, possession, use, trade, distribution, import and export of narcotic drugs, save for medical and scientific pursuits. 
 <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, under the tenure of Jawaharlal Nehru, the nation's first prime minister, to honour its obligations with the Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, signed the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 30 March, 1961. And on 13 December, 1964 the treaty was ratified. However, international treaties or conventions were not going to clip the wings of India's holistic connection with marijuana. Just not yet. 
 When <keyword id="191987" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ronald-Reagan">Ronald Reagan</keyword> became the 40th US president, his administration began twisting the arm of <keyword id="12596" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rajiv-Gandhi">Rajiv Gandhi</keyword> to make marijuana illegal in India. Consequentially, in 1985, India established the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS). Before this act, India could and was able to practically dance in the open about its consumption or sale of marijuana. 
 54 years before we had successfully negotiated with and had finally managed to ask the British to leave us their alphabet and take their letters and go back to where they came from, they were pretty impressed with our deep-rooted weed economics. So in 1893, the British appointed a joint study called '<keyword id="2885065" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indian-Hemp-Drugs-Commission">Indian Hemp Drugs Commission</keyword>' concerning the growth, manufacture, consumption, and social-cultural impacts from the intake of marijuana in any form. 
 
One year later, the conclusion set on top of a 3,281 page report, along with the testimony from almost 1,200 people belonging to diverse cultures, ethnicities, professions, builds, and mindset was - “moderate use of hemp drugs was practically attended by no evil results at all. The intake produces no injuries on the mind and there is no moral injury whatsoever.” 
 
Now, this is how it works. Weed is not our family member. It is an outside guest. Let's call this guest Mary Jane for now. This guest can make or break our mood. Depending on how beautiful and powerful this guest is and how organised we are. 
 
The power or the camaraderie of the guest is determined by the active agent called THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) that is present in the DNA of any self-respecting weed. The percentage of THC present in weed will ascertain the potency of the weed. The THC content in the weed available in India is between 3% and 35%, depending on the atmospheric conditions and locale of its genesis and growth. Synthetic or hybrid ones are set to contain up to 50% - 80% THC. 
 
Mary Jane can make us feel different emotions based on where she touches us in the brain. 
 
Our brains have neurotransmitters and receptors. The former sends messages. The latter receives them. Accordingly delegations are made to execute the desired movement or action. Now, if Mary Jane strikes us in the Amygdala, the receptor that regulates fear and anxiety, we are going to be scared or paranoid for something. If Mary Jane flirts with our Hypothalamus, receptors that regulate sexual behaviour and appetite, we will experience an increase in the appetite and feel aroused beyond our regular frame. And when Mary Jane caresses our spinal cord that is responsible for the transmission of information between body and brain, we will experience our pain sensitivities being altered – one of the reasons why marijuana is used as a pain suppressant or stress reliever. 
 
We primarily have nine distinguished cannabinoid receptors in the brain. Very rarely weed strikes more than three receptors at the same time. 
 
The 10th Receptor Strikes the masses. Rocks the social network. Critiques the critics. Impresses his suits with his own branding – <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword>, a powerful friend to the microphones and warden of cutting-edge speeches about hope and development. On June 1, 2015, when speaking to the United News of India, Mr Modi remarked that our religious freedom is a constitutional right and is “non-negotiable”. He further vouches, “We stand for every one of the 1.25 billion Indians regardless of caste or creed and we will work for the progress of every one of them.” 
 
Speaking of constitutional rights, Mr Modi, would it be possible to scooch in a ganja right? The right to smoke weed without inhibitions? Peter Tosh will be happy to be reincarnated just to come down and sing to you: 
Legalize it 
Don't criticize it 
Legalize it, yeah, yeah, 
And I will advertise it. 
 
P.S. Even <keyword id="35763" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Bob-Marley">Bob Marley</keyword> wouldn't mind giving you his rendition. All you have to do is just say the words Mr Modi. 
 
Marijuana is an adorable little teddy bear. It stands to make you sit with warmth and fuzz. It is not a bat out of hell cheetah like cocaine. Nor is it ugly and smutty like meth or heroin. 
 
Being from a right wing party, we are sure an empathy can be made about the tradition, association and fact that we as a nation is attached to weed like a a mother is to her child, through the umbilical cord. The cord may be cut. But the bond will remain. It's a sacred bond. Do you think you could help us secure that bond, Mr Modi? 
 
Expectations kill. So does smoking marijuana, right? That's what men with guns and tear gas make us believe every time we step forward with a petition on our tongue. So anyway, I think we will just pray for now that you help us secure the treaty to our freedom to bask in the glory of cloud nine. 
 
 
(Image courtesy:

You Searched For "modi cheetahs" and got 4 results

India reintroduced 8 cheetahs after the big cats were wiped out 70 years ago — but some scientists say it's more of a PR stunt than a conservation effort

Kelsey Vlamis

PM addresses women SHGs conference in MP

IANS

68% of defence budget allocated for procuring indigenous equipment: PM

IANS

What if Narendra Modi was pro marijuana! Ever imagined?

Sundeep Keramalu

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides