Projects on Gangetic Dolphin, Asiatic Lions to be launched soon: PM Modi

A report released by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change earlier this year has said there has been a 29 per cent increase in the population of Asiatic Lions that live in Gujarat’s Gir forest, taking the number from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020. The period also witnessed a distributional increase in the lions, from 22,000 square kilometres in 2015 to 30,000 square kilometres in 2020 – an increase of 36 per cent.

“Project Lion will entail habitat development, engage modern technologies in lion management and address the issues of disease in lion and its associated species through advanced world class research and veterinary care,” said the MoEF spokesperson while reacting to the Prime Minister’s announcement.

River Dolphins, meanwhile, are a flagship species to indicate a healthy riverine ecosystem and are a flagship species for monitoring the conservation status of rivers. The Gangetic Dolphin was declared a National Aquatic species in 2010. Being an indicator of the river ecosystems, conservation of the Gangetic Dolphin would also assist in bringing down the pollution in rivers thereby improving the population of fish in these rivers which in turn support the economies of local communities.

The Gangetic River Dolphin is found in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli rivers from India to Nepal to Bangladesh. Latest assessment reports have found that there are 3700 Gangetic Dolphins in India’s river systems.

The MoEF is slated to soon launch the 10-year Project Gangetic Dolphin.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had last year announced that the Ministry had identified 102 cities for a concerted push to bring down pollution levels in and that action plans for 80 cities had already been prepared. The city plans were to include plans to handle solid waste management as well as combat vehicular emissions, industrial pollution and dust management.

Prime Minister Modi Saturday also said that India is now counted as one of the top five nations “for renewable energy’’.

“We will do everything to reduce pollution. The production of ethanol is being scaled up. This will be beneficial for the environment. Five years ago, India was producing 50 crore litres of ethanol. In just five years, this amount has increased five times. We now produce 200 crore litres of ethanol. We are looking at a holistic integrated approach wherein development and environment can go hand in hand. We are one of the few countries in the world where the forest cover area has actually increased,’’ said the Prime Minister.