Six cubs of African cheetah ‘Gamini’ at the Kuno National Park, in Sheopur district, Madhya Pradesh (PTI)

New Delhi (PTI): The Madhya Pradesh forest department has refused to provide information under the Right to Information Act on management of cheetahs brought from Africa and their cubs born in India.

In response to a request filed by wildlife activist Ajay Dubey, the department cited Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, which allows a public authority to withhold information if its disclosure would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific, or economic interests of the State, relations with a foreign State, or lead to the incitement of an offence.Dubey had requested the state forest department to provide “management correspondence records of the Cheetah Project in Kuno and Mandsaur”.

In his response, Saurav Kumar Kabra, Public Information Officer in the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Madhya Pradesh, said: “The information (under point number 2) is related to the management branch, which has decided not to provide information under Section 8(1)(a) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.”

Dubey said this is the first time that information on Project Cheetah has been denied under RTI Act since the launch of the programme with the release of eight Namibian cheetahs into Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on September 17, 2022.

Dubey had previously received information under RTI on the health of the first cheetah cub born on Indian terrain.

Information obtained by Dubey revealed that the cub’s right leg was fractured on November 28.

“I have been disclosing irregularities in the conservation of big cats since 2013, but this is the first time I received a reply stating that disclosure of information about cheetahs will affect national security or relations with foreign countries

The first batch of eight cheetahs was introduced in India in September 2022, and the second batch of 12 cheetahs was flown in from South Africa last February.

The government now plans to introduce cheetahs into a fenced area in the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, possibly by the end of the year, with a focus on breeding.

A proposal to set up a cheetah conservation breeding centre in Gujarat’s Banni grasslands was also cleared by the Central Zoo Authority in February.

According to a document released by the Union Environment Ministry earlier this year, the long-term goal is to establish a metapopulation of cheetahs in the Kuno-Gandhisagar landscape (an area of around 9,000 sq km) of 60-70 individuals after restorative measures, prey availability, and scientific management are ensured.

The much-vaunted cheetah conservation project initially drew criticism due to the animals’ deaths. However, with the birth of 12 cubs this year, officials say the project is on the right track.

Namibian cheetah Aasha gave birth to three cubs in January. Jwala, another female cheetah from Namibia, also gave birth to three cubs in the same month. She had delivered four cubs last year, but only one of them survived.

With South African cheetah Gamini giving birth to six cubs in March, the total number of cheetahs, including cubs, in Kuno is now 26.

Since last March, seven adult cheetahs, including Shaurya, have died due to various reasons.

The seven adult cheetahs – three females and four males – who died include Sasha, Uday, Daksha, Tejas, Suraj, Dhatri, and Shaurya.

The first six fatalities occurred in a six-month period between March and August 2023.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal/Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia/Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha

New Delhi : A Delhi court on Thursday extended the judicial custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in money laundering and corruption cases related to the alleged excise scam.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja extended Kejriwal’s custody in a money laundering case, being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, till July 31, while his judicial custody in a corruption case, lodged by the CBI, was extended till August 8.

The judge also extended the judicial custody of Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha and other accused till July 31 in the money laundering case.

The accused were produced before the court through video conference.

The Supreme Court had earlier granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the ED case, however, he continues to be lodged in Tihar jail here as he has not furnished the bail bond in the case.

He is in judicial custody in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case.

Members during the Karnataka Assembly session, in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday adopted resolutions against the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies based on the coming census, “One Nation, One Election” proposal and National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET).

“The Karnataka Assembly demands that the Central Government should not carry out the delimitation of constituencies on the basis of a census that happens in the 2026 census or thereafter. In case of increasing the number of seats based on the population, it should take into account the 1971 census to decide the number of Lok Sabha seats in a state and the assembly constituencies there,” it said.

In the second resolution, the Congress government said the ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal poses a threat to India’s democratic and federal system.

Different state legislatures have their own terms of office, and a uniform election schedule can undermine states’ autonomy by focusing too much on national issues and neglecting local concerns. Ensuring adequate security, managing election staff, dejection among voters, reduced government accountability and economic and social constraints are serious concerns associated with simultaneous elections, it said.

“Therefore, this House urges the Central Government not to implement this draconian law to protect the democratic processes and unity of India,” the resolution, tabled by the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil, read.

The government said the NEET examination system is severely affecting the medical education opportunities of poor children from rural areas. It not only makes the school education system ineffective, but also takes away the rights of the state government to admit students in state government managed medical colleges and hence it is requested that this system should be abolished.

“This House demands the Centre to exempt Karnataka from this exam and allow admission in the medical colleges to the school students on the basis of the Common Entrance Test conducted by the State government and cancel the NEET system in view of the irregularities taking place nationwide and make essential amendments in the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 (Central Act 30 of 2019),” the third resolution said.

The Speaker U T Khader later announced that the resolutions have been adopted.

Anil Deshmukh / Devendra Fadnavis

Nagpur: Senior NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh on Thursday dared Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to make public the video clips against him purportedly showing him speaking against NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray.

Addressing a press conference here, Deshmukh said, “Fadnavis should make the video clips public because I know he possesses none.”

Deshmukh also showed a pen drive saying that it contains evidence about the allegations he made against Fadnavis.

He reiterated his allegation that three years ago, he was pressured by BJP leader Fadnavis to make an affidavit and level false allegations against Uddhav Thackeray, Ajit Pawar, Aaditya Thackeray and Anil Parab.

When asked about the pen drive in his hand, Deshmukh said it contains proof of his allegations against Fadnavis.

“If I am challenged, I will reveal the video evidence I have. I don’t speak without proof,” he said.

On Wednesday, Deshmukh alleged that an ‘intermediary’ of Fadnavis had asked him to provide affidavits against important figures in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to avoid getting embroiled in litigation himself. But Fadnavis denied the allegation.

Deshmukh stepped down as home minister in April 2021 after the then Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh accused him of asking police to collect money from hotel and bar owners in the city.

However, reacting to Deshmukh’s allegation on Wednesday, Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, said it was baseless.

“Anil Deshmukh should know that his own party leaders have provided me with multiple pieces of audio-visual evidence of his comments about then CM Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, or the controversial police officer Sachin Waze. If false accusations are levelled against me, I will have no choice but to make this evidence public,” Fadnavis said.

The DMRC booked more than 1,600 people for creating nuisance, including making reels, on the metro premises during April to June, a rise of three per cent from the corresponding year-ago period, officials said on Thursday.

A senior Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official said the separate calculation for passengers penalised only for making reels, however, was not available.

Creating nuisance may also include offences such as sitting on the floor of the train and eating inside the train, among others.

According to the data, 1,647 penalties were issued for creating nuisance under Section 59 of the Metro Railways (Operations and Maintenance) Act.

The corresponding number for the same period last year was 1,600.

The DMRC issued 610, 518 and 519 penalties in April, May and June, respectively.

The corresponding numbers for the previous year were 528, 485 and 587, the data showed.

DMRC Managing Director Vikas Kumar said that they penalised people for creating nuisance in the metro area.

“We use our machinery so that such kind of incidents should not happen on the metro premises. We have a provision of penalising if someone creates nuisance on the metro premises and we do penalise them. It is an ongoing process and the more you keep doing it, the more people will get discouraged,” he said.

“But the issue is that we do not have enough manpower to check every corner. If we have 67 lakh passengers a day, then monitoring such a huge number of people is not easy. We have CCTV surveillance through which we get to know if anything happened on the premises,” he added.

The DMRC has also put up posters at several metro stations, dissuading passengers from making reels and causing discomfort.

In April, the DMRC asked the Delhi Police to conduct a thorough investigation after a video emerged online of two women applying colours on each other inside a train.

The video, which surfaced ahead of Holi, drew criticism from a large section of commuters.

The DMRC had said at the time that it was running various campaigns, both online and offline, to discourage passengers from indulging in any activity that might cause inconvenience to fellow commuters.

Mobile checking squads are also deployed at times to check activities considered inappropriate.

Pune : About 400 people were evacuated to safety on Thursday following flooding in Sinhagad Road and some other areas along the riverbank in Pune city due to incessant rains, officials said.

Two columns of the Army were deployed in Sinhagad Road area which was severely affected by flooding, they said.

Besides, teams of the NDRF, fire brigade as well as the district and city disaster management cells were pressed into service to carry out relief operations.

Water entered several housing societies and houses in low-lying areas along the Sinhagad Road. Cars and two-wheelers stood in water.

“So far 400 people from Sinhagad Road area have been shifted to safety,” said Suhas Divsae, district collector.

Army personnel were helping with relief operations in Ekta Nagar in Sinhagad Road area, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials said.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for the Pune district for another 48 hours, and as heavy rains are expected to continue later in the day in the catchment areas of Khadakwasla and other upstream dams, more water was likely to be released from Khadakwasla reservoir (increasing the water level in the Mutha river that flows through the city), the collector said.

Tourist places such as waterfalls and lakes in Pune district have been closed to tourists.

There were, however, no reports of any village in the district getting cut off due to the rains, Divase said.

Besides schools, private establishments and offices in affected areas have been asked to give a holiday to their employees, he said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar visited the PMC’s disaster management cell to take stock of the situation.