PM Focus at Wildlife Board Meet: Counting of Asiatic Lions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired his first meeting of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) at Gir National Park in Gujarat on Monday, where he announced the initiation of the Asiatic lion population estimation exercise in May, new initiatives including a conservation programme for the critically endangered gharials and a centre to steer management of human-wildlife conflict, and reviewed the government's flagship wildlife conservation programmes like Project Lion and Project Cheetah.

- NIKHIL GHANEKAR

This was the seventh meeting of the NBWL, the apex body on wildlife conservation and development. The last full-body NBWL, with its 47 members including Chief of Army Staff, was held on September 5, 2012, and was chaired by then PM Manmohan Singh.

It is the standing committee of the NBWL, chaired by the Union Environment Minister, which has largely steered crucial decisions on wildlife policy and diversion of land in and around parks and sanctuaries.