14-16 cheetahs to be brought to India in next few months, says Jyotiraditya Scindia

Scindia announced this while briefing reporters on the government's initiatives for wildlife conservation over the last nearly nine years. Here are some top announcements by the union minister:

He said the government's strategy for wildlife conservation is focused on four key pillars — population, policy, people and infrastructure. He said the government is holistically developing projects for water species of Andaman and Nicobar Island.

> He said the Centre has made an action plan for vulture conservation from 2020-2025. "We must follow recycle, reuse, remake, re-engineer & reproduce model rather than linear make and dispose of model to sustain resources for future generations," he said.

> All measures have been taken to address the issue of bird hits at airport areas. To ensure birds don’t cluster around areas of transportation and buildings, we have installed sounds guns, horns etc. to keep them away from airport areas under the ‘Swachh Bharat Initiative’. There have been incidents of aircraft suffering bird hits mid-air as well as at the time of landing or take-off.

> Scindia said wildlife conservation efforts have led to a 33 percent rise in the number of tigers and a nearly 50 percent rise in the numbers of Asiatic lions in India from 2011 to 2020.

> As part of wildlife conservation efforts, safe zones have been earmarked in various states for endangered vultures, a central Asian flyway has been set up to protect migratory birds and bird dispellers and horns have been employed at airports to protect avian species from mishaps

Besides this, Scindia emphasised the importance of protecting nature for future generations and said there is no space for a linear economy now. "There is no place for Take, Make, Dispose model," he added.

"Preserving wildlife and ensuring that it thrives is a very important part of our tradition as well as our treasure for us to maintain, develop and grow in a fiduciary role for the generations to come," Scindia said.