Select Your Preferred Language

Please choose your language to continue.

Gujarat’s Banni grasslands ready for translocation of cheetahs by year end | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
News Today Logo

Gujarat’s Banni grasslands ready for translocation of cheetahs by year end

Posted 17 Jul 2025

2 min read

The forest department has increased the prey base in the area and also set-up an enclosure.

  • Earlier, Cheetahs have been relocated to Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary of Madhya Pradesh from Kuno National Park (MP).
  • Other potential sites listed in the action plan for cheetah introduction: Guru Ghasidas National Park in Chhattisgarh; Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary, Sanjay National Park, Bagdara Wildlife Sanctuary, Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in MP; Desert National Park and Shahgarh grasslands in Rajasthan and Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary in UP.

About Banni Grassland

  • Located in Kutch district of Gujarat, this is a unique salt-tolerant grassland ecosystem.
  • Asia’s largest tropical grassland, which has emerged from the sea due to tectonic activities.
  • Inhabited by various pastoral communities, such as the Maldharis, Rabaris, Mutwas, and Meghwals. 

About Project Cheetah

  • About: Launched in 2022 for the translocation of African cheetahs into India (Kuno National Park ) from Namibia and South Africa.
    • First intercontinental reintroduction of a wild, large carnivore species.
  • Implementing agency: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
  • Cheetah Project Steering Committee: Established by NTCA in 2023 to oversee, evaluate, and advise on implementation of Project Cheetah.
    • NTCA is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change constituted under enabling provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006.

About Cheetah

  • World’s fastest Mammal and the only large carnivore to be extinct in India (1952).
  • Unlike other big cats (lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars) cheetahs don’t roar.
  • Two Species of Cheetahs exists :
    • African Cheetah (IUCN Status- Vulnerable).
    • Asiatic Cheetah (IUCN Status- Critically Endangered).
  • Found only in the arid regions of eastern Iran in Asia, and in Africa. 
  • Tags :
  • Cheetah
  • Banni Grassland
  • Project Cheetah
Watch News Today
Subscribe for Premium Features