Context:

• Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have played a leading role to bring inclusive finance into the development mainstream. 

More about the news: 

• Promoting Women Entrepreneurship: They have engineered an efficient business model that utilizes the prevailing social collateral to ignite women’s entrepreneurship spirit. 
  • Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) launched a TV commercial ‘Microfinance – har hausle ke saath’. Its aim is to spread awareness on how the microfinance sector helps the low income financially excluded women realise its earning potential by granting quick and simple access to credit with no collateral.
  • Satin Creditcare Network Limited (SCNL), a microfinance company, sanctioned loan to rural women and helped expand weaving business.
• Microfinance outreach: They have enabled microfinance outreach in nearly 85 per cent districts of India with more than two lakh frontline employees distributing credit and associated services.
• Role in digital transition: Regular interaction with customers by using robust technology platforms has given them presence in 729 districts and helped create a strong bridge between physical and digital India. 
• Strong regulation ecosystem: The sector is supported by a strong ecosystem of robust regulations, the JanDhanAadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity, well functioning credit bureaus, and support from banks under priority sector lending.
• Inclusivity: Audio-visual content in vernacular languages is widely utilised to continuously impart financial literacy.They have

What are Microfinance institutions (MFIs)?

• MFIs are financial companies that provide small loans to people who do not have any access to banking facilities. The interest rates provided by microfinance institutions are lower than those charged by normal banks. The services under it includes:
  • Microloans: It allows individuals to borrow small sums of money without providing any collateral In India, all loans that are below Rs.1 lakh can be considered as microloans
  • Microsavings: These savings accounts are available for entrepreneurs to operate with no minimum balance.
  • Microinsurance: They offer insurance coverage to borrowers of microloans for a comparatively low premium.

Regulatory Framework:

• MFIs are governed by the RBI’s Non Banking Financing Company–microfinance institutions (NBFC-MFIs)- Directions, 2011, and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. 
• RBI recognised self-regulatory organisation(SRO): The RBI regulations for microfinance provide an effective framework for customer protection. This framework is supported by RBI recognised self-regulatory organisation (SRO). 
  • The SRO supports the MFIs in the implementation of the regulations, takes initiatives for capacity building, improves governance through regular guidance and surveillance and provides a platform for resolving sector level challenges.
• In March 2022, the Reserve Bank( RBI)introduced an updated and all-encompassing harmonised framework for microfinance loans Reserve Bank of India (Regulatory Framework for Microfinance Loans) Directions, 2022. It’s major provisions include:
  • Microloan Eligibility: Under the updated guidelines, households with annual incomes of up to ₹3 lakh are now considered eligible for microloans.. 
  • Loan Pricing cap: The cap on loan pricing has been eliminated, facilitating greater reach within current markets and enabling entry into previously untapped ones.
  • Limiting Prepayment penalties: Microfinance loans will no longer incur prepayment penalties.

Groups Organized by Microfinance Institutions in India:

1. Joint Liability Group (JLG): This is usually an informal group that consists of 4-10 individuals who seek loans against mutual guarantee. 
   • Beneficiaries: The loans are usually taken for agricultural purposes or associated activities. Farmers, rural workers, and tenants fall into this category of borrowers. 
   • Loan Liability:  Each individual in a JLG is equally responsible for the loan repayment in a timely manner. 
2. Self Help Group (SHG): A SHG is a group of individuals with similar socio-economic backgrounds who come together for a short duration and create a common fund for their business needs. There is no requirement of collateral in this kind of group lending. 
3. Grameen Model Bank: It has inspired the creation of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in India. 

• Its goal was to provide microcredit services for financially disadvantaged groups, women in particular, enabling them to break the poverty cycle by making investment first with small loans and then generating returns.

     4. Rural Cooperatives: The resources of poor people are pooled in and financial services are provided from             this fund. 

How are MFIs Funded:

• Member and customer deposits:This is applicable to MFIs that are organised as mutual funds, cooperatives, and microfinance banks offering savings products.
• Subsidies and grants: Grants are more prominent when the MFI is just being set up.
• Own capital: The microfinance institution’s own finance/capital accounts for a part of the funding extended to borrowers.
• Loans from partner banks: This is the primary source of funding for an MFI.
• Funding received from public investors: Bilateral or multilateral organisations offer funds to MFIs. This is a source of long-term funding for the MFI.
• Funding received from private investors: These funds are supplied directly to the MFI or through investment funds that specialise in microfinance. This is also a source of long-term funding for the MFI

Significance of MFIs:

• Financial Inclusion: MFIs bridge the gap between the unbanked population and the formal financial system and promote financial inclusion fostering economic empowerment and stability for underserved communities.
• Women Empowerment: By providing women with the means to start or expand their businesses, microfinance contributes to closing the gender gap and creating more equitable opportunities for women.
• Rural economic development: It provides agricultural loans to farmers, enabling them to invest in agricultural resources leading to higher farmer income and overall rural development.
• Social and economic development: By granting individuals and communities access to financial services, it creates opportunities for job creation, higher living standards, and reduced inequality. 
• Financial literacy programs: By enhancing financial literacy, with the help of financial literacy programs and training for their clients, microfinance fosters responsible financial behaviour and empowers individuals to maximise the benefits of their financial resources

Status in India:

• Microfinance customers: According to the Microfinance Institutions Network’s estimations, the industry serves 66 million customers at the end of the same period, resulting in a penetration of 32 per cent. 
• Sector growth: The industry continues to witness a healthy customer addition, with 14 per cent growth in FY23 coupled with normalised on-demand collection efficiency largely above 98 per cent. 
• Market penetration: A portion of customers has surpassed the traditional microfinance limit of an annual household income of Rs 3 lakh. 
  • Strong historical performance and improved business results have prompted these customers to shift into personal lending areas that involve larger loan amounts. 
• Limit of non-microfinance loans: Under the current rules, the limit for non-microfinance loans has been raised to 25% of net assets. This aims to accompany customers throughout their financial journey, identify opportunities and create suitable financial solutions.
• Reaching last mile: System of disbursing small loans, credit, insurance, access to savings accounts, and money transfers to MSMEs and underbanked entrepreneurs or individuals is gradually penetrating the unserved segments of society.
• Digitalisation Initiatives: They have been aligned to the rapid diffusion of smartphones and growing comfort of borrowers with digital modes of transactions.
  • Today, nearly 100 per cent of loans are digitally disbursed directly into the bank account of the borrowers and an increasing number of repayments are also being done digitally.
• MFI Model evolution: In terms of non-credit offerings, notable innovations are emerging in the realm of payment, savings, and micro-insurance products. These developments highlight the MFI model’s evolution beyond traditional credit distribution methods. 
• Technology Adoption: MFIs are progressively integrating technology to boost operational efficiency, enhance underwriting models, and minimize costs, employ audio-visual content in regional languages to consistently promote financial literacy.

Challenges Faced by MFIs in India:

• High interest rates: Some microfinance institutions in rural India charge relatively high interest rates to cover operational costs, which can place a burden on borrowers with limited financial resources. 
• Narrowing down on the appropriate lending model: SHG or JLG models of lending are chosen by MFIs at random. Such an unscientific model choice increases the risks of borrowings for the weaker sections beyond what they can bear and repay.
• Reliance on commercial banks: Most NGO-MFIs in India rely on commercial banks to ensure stable funding having higher interest rates and shorter lending terms. MFIs also finding it difficult to grow independently without any support from anchor investors.
• Lack of infrastructure: Limited access to transportation, communication networks, and banking facilities can hamper the efficient delivery of financial services and hinder the growth of microenterprises.
• Skewed Distribution: In terms of regional distribution, eastern & north-eastern regions of the country have the largest share at 37 per cent followed by south at 27 percent and west at 15 per cent and 82 per cent of the loan portfolio is concentrated in ten states.
• Social and cultural barriers: Traditional gender roles, social norms, and caste-based hierarchies restricts the participation of certain segments of the population, particularly women, in microfinance programs.
• Dependency for funding: Funding Micro lending institutions are highly dependent on the market for funding. This means that at the smallest of events affecting business, MFIs find it difficult to procure financing.
• Transition to traditional banking: Several microfinance institutions have converted into small finance banks and thus, they can lend at higher interest rates besides,  accessing low cost deposits.
• Disadvantage for small entities: The top 10 MFIs  find it easy to get bank loans or equities; the smaller entities are usually at a disadvantage while accessing loan.

Way Forward: 

• Lower interest rates: It is crucial to ensure affordable and transparent interest rates to prevent over-indebtedness and protect the welfare of borrowers.
• Addressing infrastructure gaps: Maintaining robust infrastructure is essential to enhance the effectiveness of microfinance programs in rural areas.
• Bridging social and cultural barriers: Sensitizing communities, empowering women through targeted interventions, and fostering an inclusive environment are crucial to overcome these barriers and ensure equal access to microfinance opportunities.
• Supportive Regulatory Environment: Simplifying MFI licensing and removing growth-hindering regulations are necessary steps. 
• Serving unserved regions: Tax incentives in underserved areas like aspirational districts or hilly tracts can foster MFI expansion and financial inclusion. 
• Financial literacy programs: Promoting responsible borrowing requires financial literacy programs for borrowers, aided by initiatives like NABARD’s capacity-building efforts. 
• Banks stepping into microfinance: By leveraging their cost-effective deposit capabilities, banks could extend microloans directly to the rural population.

News Source:Business Standard 

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Context: 

India has been engaging in a series of agreements, and it is now in discussions with European nations, including Switzerland, to finalize migration agreements.

About Migration Agreement:

• A Migration Agreement between countries is a formal arrangement that outlines the terms and conditions under which individuals from one country can live, work, study, or seek professional opportunities in another country. 

India’s Migration Agreements: 

• India has already inked agreements with several nations like the UK, Germany, Austria, and Portugal, which share similar objectives of facilitating cross-border opportunities for professionals.
• Young Professionals Scheme with the UK: It permits early-career professionals aged 18-30 from both countries to work in each other’s nation for a period of two years. 
  • This scheme is limited to 3,000 professionals from India and the UK.
• India-Germany MMPA: The Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement (MMPA) with Germany allows Indian students to seek employment opportunities 18 months after completing their studies. 
  • It also enables the exchange of young professionals to reside and work in Germany if their diploma or degree is recognized by the competent German authority.
• Portugal Agreement: The agreement with Portugal offers opportunities for blue-collar workers to find employment in Portugal.
  • Blue-collar worker refers to individuals who engage in hard manual labor, typically in the agriculture, manufacturing, construction, mining, or maintenance sectors.
• India-Australia MMPA: Both countries  signed a migration partnership agreement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia.
  • It is aimed at promoting two-way exchange of students, graduates, researchers, and business people, and expanding people-to-people ties.

News Source: Livemint

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Context: 

As per the  Ministry of Finance, In the fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23), remittances to India witnessed a substantial growth of 26%, reaching a total of $112.5 billion. In FY22 the remittance was $89.1 billion.

About Remittance: 

• Remittances refer to the transfer of money by individuals who are living and working in another country (usually as migrants) back to their home country.  
• Remittances can be sent through various formal channels such as banks, money transfer companies, or online platforms, and they play a significant role in foreign exchange. 

Remittances vs. FDI:

• Amid a slowdown in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows across international borders, remittances to India have surged.
• Despite the launch of 14 production-linked incentive schemes, India’s FDI declined to $70.97 billion in FY23, down from $84.8 billion in FY22.

Top Source of Remittance for India::

• The Reserve Bank of India’s survey for 2020-21 highlights the major sources of inward remittances to India:
  • USA holds the top spot, contributing 23.4% of total remittances.
  • UAE follows closely with an 18% share.
  • UK, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia contribute 6.8%, 5.7%, and 5.1%, respectively.

News Source: The Financial Express

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Context: 

Recently, scientists from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control applied metagenomic sequencing for pathogen surveillance and detection in three cohorts of patients.

More on News: 

• The first cohort represented population-level surveillance of individuals presenting with symptoms consistent with Lassa fever.
  • Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus endemic to West African countries. 
• The second cohort consisted of people from outbreaks with suspected infectious aetiologies. 
• The third cohort consisted of people with clinically challenging but undiagnosed conditions.

About Genome:

• The genome is the blueprint of life, a collection of all the genes and the regions between the genes contained in our 23 pairs of chromosomes. 
• Each chromosome is a contiguous stretch of DNA string. In other words, our genome consists of 23 different strings, each composed of millions of individual building blocks called nucleotides or bases. 

Genome sequencing:

• Genome sequencing is the process of determining the complete DNA sequence of an organism’s genome. 
• The DNA consists of a double-stranded molecule built up by four bases – adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T). 
• The process of deciphering the order of base pairs, to decode the genetic fingerprint of a human is called genome sequencing.

Impact of COVID-19 on Genomic Surveillance:

• Initial Breakthrough in Identification: A crucial breakthrough in identifying SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, came from unbiased genome sequencing of patient samples.
  • Traditional microbiology was bypassed in favor of direct genome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis, enabling swift virus identification.
• Emergence of Metagenomics: A novel approach called metagenomics emerged, allowing rapid and direct application to patient samples.
  • Metagenomics played a key role in quickly identifying SARS-CoV-2 and became a revolutionary tool in pathogen identification.

Image Source: American Society for Microbiology

Transformative Technologies and Applications:

• Genome-Based Technologies: Genome sequencing technologies developed post-COVID-19, like the CovidSeq assay, drove various SARS-CoV-2 genome surveillance initiatives.
• India initiated a national SARS-CoV-2 genome-sequencing and surveillance program, supported by state governments and private initiatives.

Advantages and Future Prospects:

• Faster identification: Genome surveillance furnishes crucial information for early response strategies, identifying emerging strains, and monitoring key species.
• Future Ready: Genomic technologies are poised to become essential tools in combating future pathogenic challenges.

News Source: The Hindu

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Context: 

The Government of India has put restrictions on the import of laptops, PCs, tablets, etc.

• The initial decision was taken with immediate effects but was later amended, and the import restriction on laptops has now been suspended until November 1, 2023.

About the Placed Restrictions:

• The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued the official notification for these import restrictions.
  • DGFT operates under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and manages foreign trade-related regulations.
• Aim of the Move:
  • The main goal of these restrictions is to promote domestic manufacturing within India.
  • These measures are believed to be directed towards China, given that over 75% of India’s imports of laptops and personal computers in the previous fiscal year originated from China.
    • More than half of India’s annual imports, roughly $10 billion of computing products are from China.
• Permission Requirement for Imports: Entities intending to import laptops and computers for sale within India must now obtain government permission or a license for their importation.
• Specifics of the Restrictions:
  • The import restrictions have been implemented under the Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) Code 8471.
  • HSN codes are classification systems used to categorize products for taxation purposes.
  • HSN Code 8471 specifically pertains to devices designed for data processing tasks.

News Source: The Indian Express

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Context: 

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra officially launched ‘Urea Gold’ fertilizer.

About Urea Gold: 

• It is basically urea fortified with Sulphur.
• Developed by: The state-owned Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF)
• Composition: Urea Gold contains 37% nitrogen (N) and 17% Sulphur, differing from regular urea’s 46% nitrogen composition.

• Objectives: 
  • Addressing Sulphur (S) deficiency in Indian soils, especially crucial for oilseeds and pulses.
  • Enhancing the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of urea through a gradual release of nitrogen. Coating of S over urea ensures a more gradual release of N.
• Commercial Aspects:
  • Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF) has yet to launch Urea Gold commercially and disclose pricing details.

Concerns Over Rising Urea Consumption:

• Consumption of Urea: Consumption/Sales rising from 26.7 million tonnes (mt) to 35.7 mt between 2009-10 and 2022-23.
• Imports: In the previous fiscal year, 7.6 million tonnes (mt) of the total 35.7 mt of urea sold were imported.
• Domestic Feedstock: Even domestically-produced urea relies on imported natural gas as its primary feedstock.
  • Comparison with China: India’s annual urea consumption of nearly 36 mt ranks second only to China’s 51 mt, which primarily relies on coal-based production.
• Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) Issue:
  • Utilization: Merely about 35% of the nitrogen (N) applied through urea is effectively used by crops to generate harvest yields.
  • Losses: Approximately 65% of the nitrogen remains inaccessible to plants. This portion is either released as ammonia gas into the atmosphere or leaches into the ground as nitrate.
  • Impact on Farming: The decreasing NUE, which was around 48% in the early 1960s, has resulted in farmers needing to apply larger quantities of fertilizer to achieve the same yield.

Way Forward: 

• Fortification Approach
  • Proposed approach involves coating fertilizers for improved efficacy.
  • Primary nutrient fertilizers should be coated with secondary nutrients (S, calcium, magnesium) and micronutrients (zinc, boron, manganese, molybdenum, iron, copper, nickel).
• Benefits of Coating:
  • Coated fertilizers serve as effective “carrier products” to deliver additional nutrients to crops.
  • Coating enhances N and P use efficiency through controlled release and synergistic effects.
  • Losses in fertilizers like urea due to ammonia volatilization and nitrate leaching are reduced.

News Source: The Indian Express

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Context: 

Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal are three out of 14 states and union territories that  have not yet signed a crucial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Union Education Ministry. 

More on News:

• This MoU is a requirement for accessing funds amounting to nearly ₹13,000 crore over the next three years under the central government’s flagship scheme for state-run higher education, known as the Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA).

About PM-USHA:

• It’s a Centrally Sponsored scheme by the Ministry of Education to enhance the quality of higher education in State Universities.
• Aims: To improve curriculum, teacher training, infrastructure, accreditation, and employability.
  • Focus on ensuring equity, access, and inclusion in higher education.
• Fund allocation: ₹12,926.10 crore for 2023-24 to 2025-26.

MoU Signing and Implementation:

• MoU:
  • MoU signifies states’ willingness to participate in the PM-USHA scheme.
  • The MoU aids in better execution of the scheme’s goals.
  • 22 States/UTs have already signed the MoUs.
• Concerns about NEP Implementation and Funding:
  • The MoU makes it obligatory for states to implement various reforms outlined in the National Education Policy (NEP).
  • These reforms include establishing an academic credit bank, allowing entry and exit flexibility, and adopting the Samarth e-governance platform.
• Issues Raised by State Governments:
  • The requirement to bear 40% of the PM-USHA expenses by states has raised concerns.
  • States emphasize the need for more financial support from the central government to effectively implement NEP reforms.
  • The MoU does not address the allocation of funds for the changes outlined in the NEP.

News Source: The Hindu

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Context: Recently, a female cheetah ‘Dhatri‘, brought under Project Cheetah to India, was found dead in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.

More on News

• So far, nine cheetahs have died since March 2023, including three out of the four cubs that were born here.
• At present, 15 cheetahs remain — seven males, Seven females and a female cub. 

About Project Cheetah

• Project Cheetah:  The Government of India has launched it to bring back Cheetahs to India. 
  • Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952.
  • To revive the population of Cheetah in India, the Indian government has made ambitious attempts to reintroduce the feline species.
  • Implementing Body: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA),  a statutory body under Ministry of Environment.
• Objective: The Indian government hopes to bring 50 cheetahs from African countries to various national parks over the next five years.
• Currently, a total of 20 radio collared Cheetahs were brought from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, in a first ever transcontinental wild to wild translocation i.e Africa to Asia.

Reason for High Mortality of Cheetah at KNP:

• Untimely winter fur: The cheetahs were brought from the southern hemisphere where the winter solstice is in June. 
  • So the animals grew a thick winter coat as the monsoon peaked in India. 
  • This extra fur held more water and did not let the skin dry for extended periods. 
  • This ‘wet mat’ effect could weaken the skin over time and become vulnerable to pathogens attack.
• Collar Infections: Radio collars are suspected to have caused skin infections among some cheetahs leading to septicemia in two speculated deaths of Cheetahs.
  • Septicemia is a blood poisoning by bacteria – which was a result of the radio collars worn around their necks in the prevailing wet conditions.
  • Radio-collaring is a valuable tool in ecological research for tracking animal movements and behaviour to aid conservation efforts.
• Low immunity, novel pathogens: The pathogens that aggravated the wound under the collar could be novel either to the African cheetahs or to Indian conditions. 
  • These animals could be vulnerable to certain local pathogens. 
  • Or they could have carried some dormant pathogens that flourished in Kuno given the animals’ loss of immunity due to stress.
• Territorial Issues: Cheetahs are not known for strongly defending their territory like tigers or lions, however, male cheetahs are known for establishing small territories for themselves that overlap with the territories of several females leading to aggressive behaviour.
  • A cheetah named Daksha was killed in a fight with other cheetahs inside the park in what could be a territorial fight between the animals.
• Adapting to Indian weather conditions: In southern Africa, cheetahs often give birth in late summer or early autumn and if the cubs are lost in the seasons, the replacement births are given in late winter or early spring.
  • However, in India, female cheetahs are yet to adapt to opposite seasons in Asia and hence the mortality is expected to be high during initial years.  
• Relative inexperience of the Indian veterinarians and monitoring teams: It was expected because very few vets or monitors in India have ever dealt with cheetahs before.

Other Concerns with Cheetah Relocation in india:

• Suitability of Kuno National Park (KNP): Cheetahs are known to excel in North Africa, the Sahel, and eastern and southern Africa and are known to ace survival in the open grasslands, savannahs of Namibia, dense vegetation, and mountainous terrain.
  • However, KNP is a largely dry, deciduous forest land. Whereas the cheetahs from Africa are usually more adapted to the Savannahs of that continent. 
  • In 2023, management of KNP wrote to Union government to relocate some cheetahs out of KNP, as they “lack the manpower and infrastructure to support the felines in the wild”.
  • Supreme Court also said that the Kuno National Park may not be sufficient to accommodate so many cheetahs.
• Fragmented Habitat: India’s grasslands are segmented by farmlands, rural habitation, and roads, particularly highways, leading to habitat fragmentation.
  • Since the nucleus population of the reintroduced cheetahs is already small, being in a fragmented habitat would prevent healthy gene flow, increasing inbreeding, leading to a dangerously high prevalence of hereditary disorders and ailments.
• Disease risk: When animals are being introduced to a landscape, there is a risk of disease spread to both the individual animals that are being introduced and to the wildlife species which inhabit the site chosen for reintroduction (Kuno, in this case).
  • According to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), “no translocated organisms can be entirely free of infection with micro-organisms or parasites, with consequent risk of their spread.”
• Human-Animal Conflict: Since their release in the open, the cheetahs have been seen to venture beyond the borders of the national park.
  • Cheetah “Oban” entered the village on the outskirts of Kuno’s buffer zone and killed a cow in the village.
• Ecological Concerns: Lack of natural and probable prey and likely competition and conflict with the existent apex predator, the Indian leopard, and various opportunistic mesopredators might prove to be factors adversely affecting the sustainability of the population.
  • Cheetahs being at the apex of the food chain, in most habitats reinserting them would cause the populations of their prey – medium-sized herbivores – to decline quickly, which might lead to an overgrowth of the latter’s diet, that is, grassland vegetation. 
  • In turn, as prey numbers do not recover quickly, ultimately the guest cheetahs could prove to be the cause of their own undoing.
• Loss of Grassland in India: India continues to lose its grasslands to desertification, agriculture, and construction activities. 
  • According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Conference of Parties in India (2019), India lost a shocking 31% (about 56.500 square kilometers) of its grassland area in the 2005-2015 decade.

Previous Cheetah Relocation Programs

• South Africa: Nine of the first 10 reintroduction attempts in South Africa failed and it took more than 200 wild cheetahs during these initial reintroduction attempts to establish best practices with regards to wild cheetah introduction and management.
• Cheetah expert Vincent van der Merwe said that an estimation of loss of 50 per cent of the founder population in the first year post-release is standard for wild cheetah reintroductions in unfenced areas.
  • Cub mortality will likely be high in the early years as most of the females will be first time mothers in India and are known to be bad at raising cubs.
• According to the NTCA, cheetahs, in general, have low survival rates, with only 50% of adult cheetahs surviving even in non-introduced populations. 
  • For introduced populations, the survival rates are even lower.

Way Forward

• More Translocation of Cheetah: According to the Cheetah Project Steering Committee, at least 50 founder cheetahs will be required before the Indian population stabilises. 
  • Further swaps between the Southern African and Indian metapopulations will be required to ensure genetic and demographic viability in the long term.
  • Cheetah Project Steering Committee was constituted by NTCA to review the progress of the reintroduction project and monitor and advise on it.
• Providing Open Grassland Area: Cheetahs inhabit open grasslands and scrublands, with breeding males being highly territorial, often claiming and defending about 40-80 square kilometers of territory each. 
  • It is vital to ensure that open, unfragmented grassland habitats be made available to the cheetah populace for them to thrive.

• Other Site for Reintroduction: The experts recommended having at least two additional reintroduction sites available by the end of 2024, with an area of above 50 square kilometers and preferably fenced as unfenced systems worldwide have not seen successful cheetah reintroduction.
  • NTCA said it is preparing Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh as an alternative.
• Health Monitoring: India needs thorough disease screening processes and protocols for managing threats from infections as part of the cheetah reintroduction plans.
• Other Steps: Cheetahs need to be fitted with lighter collars with a softer belt material. 
  • There needs to be better monitoring of the animals with on-field observations.
  • Cheetah adapting on an “evolutionary timescale” might be the only permanent solution to the winter coats.

Conclusion

• It will still take a few years to gauge the success or failure of the project once cheetahs establish their home range in the Indian ecosystem.
• For the project to be a success, patience and time are the essential elements before any conclusions are drawn.

News Source: Indian Express

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