NABARD Grade A Current Affairs — 6 September 2026

India's Project Cheetah has reached a population of 53 cheetahs, with 33 cubs born domestically since the programme began. The Centre is now planning further expansion of the initiative. Cheetahs were reintroduced to India after the species went locally extinct in 1952, with the first batch of African cheetahs translocated from Namibia to Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, in September 2022, marking the world's first intercontinental large carnivore translocation.

Project Cheetah is India's flagship large-carnivore reintroduction programme, and the first in the world to translocate cheetahs across continents. The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) was declared extinct in India in 1952 after the last three were shot in Koriya district, then part of Madhya Pradesh. The species had no legal protection at the time.

The reintroduction began on 17 September 2022, when Prime Minister Modi released eight Namibian cheetahs at Kuno National Park (KNP), Madhya Pradesh. A second batch of 12 cheetahs arrived from South Africa in February 2023, bringing the founding population to 20. The current count of 53 — including 33 India-born cubs — signals successful breeding in captivity and semi-wild conditions.

The nodal ministry is the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The programme is supervised by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which also oversees Project Tiger. The legal backbone is the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, under which Kuno is a National Park.

For examiners, the key static hooks are: (a) the species' IUCN status — Vulnerable; (b) the distinction between African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) and the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), which is Critically Endangered and survives only in Iran; (c) Kuno National Park's prior significance as a proposed second home for Asiatic lions; and (d) the intercontinental translocation precedent. The count milestones — original 20, now 53 — are classic fill-in-the-blank targets.

India will host the BRICS Summit in 2026, with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expected to attend. The summit takes place against the backdrop of ongoing West Asia conflict, making India's role as host diplomatically significant. India assumed the BRICS chairmanship following Russia's 2024 presidency, and the 2026 summit represents a major multilateral test of India's foreign policy balancing act between Global South solidarity and Western alliances.

BRICS — originally Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa — was conceptualised by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 as 'BRIC' to describe fast-growing emerging economies. The formal grouping was established in 2009, with South Africa joining in 2010. In 2023, during South Africa's presidency, BRICS expanded significantly: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE were invited to join, with most becoming full members in 2024. This expansion, called BRICS+, signals a structural shift in the grouping's geopolitical weight.

India hosting the 2026 BRICS Summit carries layered significance. First, the presence of Putin tests India's long-standing 'strategic autonomy' doctrine — Russia is under ICC arrest warrant, yet India-Russia ties remain foundational. Second, Pezeshkian's attendance places Iran centre-stage at an India-hosted event amid active West Asia conflict, highlighting India's energy dependence on the region and its interest in regional de-escalation. Third, Xi's presence carries the weight of the ongoing LAC boundary management process post-Galwan.

For exam purposes, the key static knowledge includes: BRICS was institutionalised via the 1st Summit in Yekaterinburg (2009); it operates on the principle of consensus; the New Development Bank (NDB), headquartered in Shanghai, was established in 2014 to fund infrastructure in member nations; and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) was set up to provide short-term liquidity support. India's past BRICS chairmanship was in 2021 (virtual summit due to COVID). The 2026 chairmanship brings India back to centre stage with expanded BRICS membership as the new testing variable.

Bangladesh is preparing a new National Red List after confirming that 31 wildlife species — including mammals, birds, and reptiles — have gone extinct. The updated assessment reflects accelerating habitat loss and human pressure on biodiversity. Against this grim backdrop, one conservation success stands out: the country's tiger population rose to 125 in 2024, up from previous counts. New targeted conservation measures are being planned for remaining threatened species listed in the forthcoming Red List.

A National Red List is a country-level adaptation of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — the global gold standard for assessing extinction risk. The IUCN framework classifies species across nine categories: Not Evaluated, Data Deficient, Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, and Extinct. A National Red List uses the same methodology but applies it to a species' status within a specific country's borders, meaning a species can be nationally extinct while surviving elsewhere globally.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), adopted at COP15 in 2022, sets the '30x30' target — protecting 30% of land and oceans by 2030 — and commits nations to halt human-induced extinction of known threatened species. Bangladesh's Red List update directly feeds into its obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), of which it is a signatory.

For India, the IUCN Red List is regularly tested in exams — aspirants must know the category hierarchy, which Indian species fall under which category (e.g., Snow Leopard: Vulnerable; Great Indian Bustard: Critically Endangered), and that India hosts 4 of the world's 36 recognised biodiversity hotspots. The IUCN, headquartered in Gland, Switzerland, publishes its Red List periodically; India's nodal authority for wildlife is the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) providing scientific inputs.