Conservation of Lesser Cats in India

The Government of India has taken the following measures to conserve and protect wildlife, including all the lesser cats species, in the country:

i.              Threatened species of wildlife including all the lesser cats are included in the Schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, thereby affording them the highest degree of protection.

ii.             A network of Protected Areas has been established to conserve wildlife and their habitats including rare animals.

iii.            Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been set up to check illegal trade in wildlife and its products.

iv.            Financial and technical assistance is extended to the State/UT Governments under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes, namely, ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats', ‘Project Tiger’ and ‘Project Elephant’ for providing better protection and conservation of wildlife.

v.             The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 has been amended from time to time and made more stringent against wildlife related offences.

Lesser cats are part of faunal life along with other species. A network of protected areas viz. National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation and Community Reserves has been established in the country.   Lesser cats, along with other species are afforded protection in these Protected Areas. The state wise details of Protected Areas in India are at Annexure-I .

As per BirdLife International, there are 465 Important Bird Areas in India. State-wise details of Important Bird Areas are at Annexure-II.  The Important Bird Areas Programme of BirdLife International aims to identify, monitor and protect a global network of Important Bird Areas for the conservation of the world's birds and other biodiversity. Important Bird Areas are identified, monitored and protected by national and local organisations and individuals.

The Government of India consider all the ecological factors including the  biodiversity occurring in the area while examining the proposals for diversion of the forest land of the Protected Areas for the developmental projects.