Madhya Pradesh

• 12 Sep 2022

Displaced Villages of Kuno Palpur will get the Status of Revenue Village

Why In News?

On September 11, 2022, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while addressing the Cheetah Mitra Sammelan organized at Kuno Palpur National Park, said that such villages displaced from Kuno National Park, which are still Majre Tolas, will be given the status of full revenue village.

Key Points

• The Chief Minister said that 5 skill development centers will be set up in this area. In these, employment will be provided by training the regional youth.
• It is worth mentioning that the Sahariya tribals of two local villages were displaced to settle the Asiatic Lion long ago in Kuno National Park.
• Cheetahs from the African country Namibia are being settled in the Kuno Palpur National Park in Sheopur. Earlier there was a plan to settle Asian cheetahs in Kuno, but in view of their limited numbers in Iran, African cheetahs are now being brought to Kuno.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a visit to Madhya Pradesh on September 17. African cheetahs will be shifted to Kuno National Park on the same day.
• Government sources said that an MoU was signed to bring 8 cheetahs from Namibia to India, but three cheetahs have been rejected by the Indian government, so in the first phase five cheetahs are being shifted to the Kuno National Park.
• According to forest department sources, the project is being run for a long time to bring cheetahs back to the country. In 2019, the Supreme Court gave its approval to the National Tiger Conservation Authority. African cheetahs are being brought to the forests of India for experimentation.
• The initiative to bring cheetahs to India was initiated in 2010 by the then Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. For the first time on January 28, 2020, the Supreme Court allowed the cheetahs to be brought to India. Also, the court had ordered the National Tiger Conservation Authority to find a suitable place for the cheetahs. After considering several national parks, experts chose Kuno Palpur National Park in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh to return to the country the fastest known animal on earth.
• Cheetahs became extinct in India 70 years ago. The cheetah was last seen in the state of Chhattisgarh in 1950. After this, they were not seen anywhere in the country.
• Kuno Palpur National Park 750 sq.km. It is spread over an area of 6,800 sq. km. It is part of open forest area spread over the area. It is one of the best habitats in the country to resettle cheetahs. It also has good hunting facilities for cheetahs, because deer, chinkara, nilgai, sambar, langur and chital are found in large numbers here.

Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati Passed Away at the Age of 98

Why In News?

On September 11, 2022, Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, the biggest religious leader of Hindus and Shankaracharya of Dwarka-Sharda Peeth, died at the age of 98 at Paramhansi Ganga Ashram in Jhoteshwar, Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh.

Key Points

• Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati was born on September 2, 1924, in a Brahmin family in the village of Dighori near Jabalpur in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh.
• It is known that 'Shankaracharya' is the eldest Mahant of the four Peethas of Hinduism. Jagadguru Shankaracharya Shri Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati ji was the Shankaracharya of two mathas (Dwarka and Jyotirmath). His parents named him Pothiram Upadhyay.
• At the age of nine, he left home and started religious journeys. During this time he reached Kashi and here he took lessons in Vedas, Vedanga and scriptures from Brahmalin Shri Swami Karpatri Maharaj.
• When Gandhiji gave the slogan of Quit India to the British in 1942, he also jumped into the freedom struggle and became famous as a 'revolutionary monk' at the age of 19. During this time, he also spent nine months in varanasi jail and six months in jail in his home state Madhya Pradesh.
• He was also the president of Karpatri Maharaj's political party 'Ram Rajya Parishad'. In 1940, he was made a Dandi Sanyasi and in 1981 he got the title of 'Shankaracharya'. In 1950, he took initiation of dand-sanyas from Sharda Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Brahmanand Saraswati and came to be known as Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.
• Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati was a freedom fighter, Ram Setu Protector, who declared Ganga a national river and fought for Ram Janmabhoomi, the first Satyagrahi of the cow protection movement, the first president of the RamRajya Parishad, was a strong opponent of hypocrisy.