IOC: First Corporate to support ‘Project Cheetah’

  • 03 Aug 2022

Indian Oil Corporation has become the first corporate to support ‘Project Cheetah’ under Corporate Social Responsibility.

  • The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian Oil Corporation for the trans-continental relocation of cheetahs from Africa to India.
  • The IOC will contribute Rs 50.22 crore over four years for the project. The total cost of the project is currently Rs 75 crore.

India-Namibia Agreement

  • Recently, on 20th July 2022, the Indian and Namibian governments signed an agreement on wildlife conservation and sustainable biodiversity utilisation for establishing the cheetah into the historical range in India.
  • The cheetah brought from Namibia will be introduced at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

About the Species

  • The subspecies of cheetah which got extinct in India was Asiatic Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) and the subspecies being introduced in the country is the African Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus).
  • Researches have shown that the genes of these two subspecies are the same.