Asiatic Lion

• Overview
  • The Asiatic Lion (also known as the Persian Lion or Indian Lion) is a member of the Panthera Leo Leo subspecies that is restricted to India.
  • Asiatic lions were once distributed to the state of West Bengal in the east and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, in central India.
  • At present Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is the only abode of the Asiatic lion. In June 2020, an estimation exercise counted 674 Asiatic lions in the Gir forest region, an increase of 29 per cent over the 2015 census figure.
  • Asiatic lions are slightly smaller than African lions.

   

  Status

  • Listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972
  • Appendix I of CITES
  • Endangered on IUCN Red List

   

  Threat

  • The lions face the usual threats of poaching and habitat fragmentation. Three major roads and a railway track pass through the Gir Protected Area (PA). Also, there are three big temples inside the PA that attract large number of pilgrims, particularly during certain times of the year.
  • There has been an increase in lion population, and more than 200 lions stay outside the PA. Though the conflict is not high now, with changing lifestyles and values these may increase in the future.
  • There are also cases of lions dying by falling into the unguarded wells around the Gir PA.
  • The Asiatic lion faces threat of genetic inbreeding arising from a single population in one place.
  • Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) was responsible for lion deaths in the Gir forest of Gujarat.
    • Canine distemper virus is known mainly to cause a severe infection in dogs respiratory, gastrointestinal, respiratory and central nervous systems, as well as the conjunctival membranes of the eye.
    • CDV may also affect wild carnivores such as wolves, foxes, raccoons, red pandas, ferrets, hyenas, tigers, and lions.
    • A lion does not eat the entire prey at one go. In between, the dogs consume the kill and infect it with the CDV. Once the lion returns to finish it off, its gets the deadly disease.

  Efforts

  • Asiatic Lion Conservation Project: It was launched by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
  • The lion census is conducted once every five years.

   

  In 1990, the  Wildlife Institute of India (WII) proposed the creation of a second wild population of Asiatic lions to safeguard the species against potential calamities in Gujarat’s Gir National Park. It favoured shifting of about 40 lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh’s PalpurKuno sanctuary. Gujarat, however, refused to part with 19 animals for an initial relocation plan.

 

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ULLAS Initiative

• The Understanding Lifelong Learning for All in Society (ULLAS) initiative is poised to revolutionise education and literacy across the nation.
• It is done by fostering a learning ecosystem that reaches every individual, bridging the gaps in basic literacy and critical life skills.
• It imparts basic education, digital and financial literacy and critical life skills to citizens aged 15 and above who lost on the opportunity to go to school. It is being implemented through volunteerism.
• Slogan of the Initiative: ULLAS: Nav Bharat SakshartaKaryakram.
• For this purpose ULLAS app was launched which is user-friendly and interactive app available both on android and ios.
• It will serve as a digital gateway for learners to engage in diverse learning resources through the DIKSHA portal of NCERT.
• The ULLAS app can be used for registration of learners and volunteers either through self-registration or by surveyors.
• Significance
  • This app will focus on promoting functional literacy, vocational skills, and many important life skills like financial literacy, legal literacy, digital literacy, and empowerment of citizens to involve in nation-building of the country.
  • It also fosters a culture of continuous learning and knowledge-sharing in communities across India.

 

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LiFE Mission

• Mission LiFE, or Lifestyle for Environment, is an India-led global mass movement to nudge individual and community action to protect and preserve the environment.
• It was launched by the Indian Prime Minister at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021.
• The program hopes to “mobilize one billion Indians as well as people in other countries to become individuals who practice sustainable lifestyles.
• The global movement will showcase sustainable goals and climate actions taken by countries and individuals around the world.
• It makes the fight against climate change democratic, in which everyone can contribute with their respective capacities.
• It emboldens the spirit of the P3 model, i.e., Pro Planet People.
• It functions on the basic principles of ‘Lifestyle of the planet, for the planet and by the planet’.
• It aims at following a three-pronged strategy for changing people’s collective approach towards sustainability,
  • nudging individuals to practice simple yet effective environment-friendly actions in their daily lives (demand)
  • enabling industries and markets to respond swiftly to the changing demand (supply)
  • to influence government and industrial policy to support both sustainable consumption and production (policy).