The tribal communities, asserting their rights under the Forest Rights Act, are now planning to gather in Delhi to demand "justice" for their livelihoods and traditions that are closely linked to the forests.

After three cheetahs died in just over a month last year in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, the National Tiger Conservation Authority in May 2023 called in experts from Reliance's wildlife facility in Gujarat to review health monitoring protocols, official records show.

The 'Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India' talks about bringing around 12-14 cheetahs each year from South Africa, Namibia, and other African countries for five years to establish a founder stock.

Cheetahs have coexisted with leopards and lions in Africa, but some officials in India consider the high leopard population in Kuno and Gandhi Sagar a problem as it would "reduce the prey biomass for cheetahs".

Due to the differences in circadian rhythms between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, some cheetahs developed thick winter coats during the Indian summer and monsoon last year, anticipating the African winter (June to September).

Currently, only one cheetah, named Pavan, is roaming free, with officials noting that he is difficult to spot and capture.

He said scientists have noticed a trend of very deep cloud systems developing over the southeast Arabian Sea, and added that sometimes, these systems intrude into the land, like in 2019.

'At the moment, there are no challenges to the Cheetah Project. If there are any challenges in the future, these will be addressed as we go forward'

Younger cheetahs that are habituated to management vehicles and human presence are preferred candidates for relocation to India, international experts involved in Project Cheetah have told the government based on lessons learnt from the initial experience in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.

The experts said that the thicker coats, high parasite load and moisture create a perfect recipe for dermatitis with fly strike on top of it compounding the infection and compromising the skin's integrity.

Vincent van der Merwe cautioned that the reintroduction project is going to see even higher mortalities in the next few months when cheetahs try to establish territories and come face to face with leopards and tigers in the Kuno National Park.

India will launch its own composite index next year to quantify the impact of heat on its population and generate impact-based heat wave alerts for specific locations, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.

Climate change has hampered the ability of the forecasting agencies to accurately predict severe events and weather bureaus across the world are focusing on augmenting the observational network density and the weather prediction modelling to improve predictability, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra has said.

Officials have admitted that the problem of frothing will continue until sewage treatment plants in Delhi are upgraded to meet the new standards.

'Everyone has failed us. The United States ditched us.... We will be forever indebted if the Indian government help us evacuate our family'

People living in the national capital and in states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are more likely to contract COVID-19 due to prolonged exposure to high concentration of PM 2.5, according to a new pan-India study.

'Never before had I heard or seen anyone of this age dying due to COVID-19. This is the first I believe. The situation is really scary'

The 10,200-bed facility was inaugurated on July 5 last year and was operated by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. The centre was 1,700 feet long and 700 feet wide -- roughly the size of 20 football fields -- and had 200 enclosures with 50 beds each.

The Republic Day tractor parade by agitating farmers will feature a number of tableaux from across states depicting village life, the protest against the Centre's contentious farm laws, and hailing their courage, according to organisers.

'Many of them were scared. So, I went to my seniors and said I should be given the vaccine first. I wanted to prove to my colleagues that there is no need to be scared'