Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday released cheetahs from Namibia into a national park in central India, in the first step towards reintroducing the species seven decades after it was declared extinct in the country.
The eight cheetahs, five females and three males, were flown to in Gwalior city in the state of Madhya Pradesh early on Saturday and were taken to Kuno National Park in a Chinook helicopter.
Mr Modi, dressed in a safari waistcoat and bushranger hat, used a lever to open the doors of the animals' crates and release them into a quarantine enclosure where they will be held temporarily before being allowed to roam the 748-square-kilometre park.
A live broadcast of the event showed one of the first two cheetahs refusing to leave its crate, while the other stepped out cautiously and began to take stock of its surroundings.
“Decades ago, the age-old link of biodiversity was broken and had become extinct. Today we have a chance to reconnect it," said Mr Modi, who turned 72 on Saturday.
"Along with these cheetahs, the nature-loving consciousness of India has also awakened with full force."
Mr Modi said the return of cheetahs to the wild would restore the ecosystem of the grasslands and boost biodiversity.
“There will be development and employment opportunities,” he said.
Mr Modi also praised the country’s efforts to conserve endangered species including tigers, Asiatic lions and one-horned rhinos.
He emphasised environmental conservation would go hand in hand with economic development.
Thousands of cheetahs once roamed India but the animals were declared extinct in 1952 after centuries of hunting by Indian kings and British rulers.
Indian governments and conservationists tried for decades to transport in cheetahs from Africa, but the country’s senior court initially blocked those efforts, describing the animals as a “foreign species”.
Projects to move Asiatic Cheetahs to India from Iran were rejected by Tehran owing to the depleted population. About 70 of the cats are estimated to live in the wild in Iran.
After the Indian Supreme Court approved the introduction of African cheetahs in 2018, the government signed pacts with Namibia and South Africa for the first transcontinental translocation of the animals.
Dr Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, accompanied the eight cheetahs on the 8,000km, 20-hour journey to India.
She said the animals, all between the age of 2 and 6, were “mildly sedated” for the trip.
Their new habitat is a vast grassland surrounded by the Vindhya mountain range. The large open spaces will allow the animals to hunt using their running speeds of up to 120 kilometres an hour.
Altogether, India will receive 50 cheetahs from Namibia over the next five years. More cheetahs are expected from South Africa in the coming months.
The cheetah reintroduction programme was initially scheduled to begin on August 15, the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, but was pushed back by technical delays.
Mr Modi has marked his birthday with other special events in the past. Last year, the government administered 25 million Covid-19 vaccine shots in one day to celebrate his birthday, along with lighting 71,000 earthen lamps and cutting a 21-metre cake.
“The cheetahs brought today in my opinion is the happy return of the PM as well as the happy return of cheetahs to India,” Dr MK Ranjitsihn, a senior official in India's cheetah project, told The National.
The government has also launched a 15-day nationwide blood donation campaign to mark Mr Modi's birthday.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
Brief scores:
QPR 0
Watford 1
Capoue 45' 1
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
RESULT
Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds: Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')
Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)
The Ashes
Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
BRAZIL SQUAD
Alisson (Liverpool), Daniel Fuzato (Roma), Ederson (Man City); Alex Sandro (Juventus), Danilo (Juventus), Eder Militao (Real Madrid), Emerson (Real Betis), Felipe (Atletico Madrid), Marquinhos (PSG), Renan Lodi (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG); Arthur (Barcelona), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), Fabinho (Liverpool), Lucas Paqueta (AC Milan), Philippe Coutinho (Bayern Munich); David Neres (Ajax), Gabriel Jesus (Man City), Richarlison (Everton), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Willian (Chelsea).
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
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The biog
Name: Salvador Toriano Jr
Age: 59
From: Laguna, The Philippines
Favourite dish: Seabass or Fish and Chips
Hobbies: When he’s not in the restaurant, he still likes to cook, along with walking and meeting up with friends.
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Company%20Profile
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UAE%20SQUAD
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
