Documenting India’s civilisational and natural heritage.
The animal has been recorded repeatedly through surveillance cameras deployed by the Karnataka Forest Department after villagers reported pugmarks, livestock losses and possible tiger movement in the Gangavathi region. Forest officials have since intensified monitoring across the landscape and deployed personnel around villages where the tiger has been moving.
Since the National Animal Disease Control Programme was launched in 2019, more than 147.16 crore doses of FMD vaccine have been administered across the country, benefiting around 8.04 crore farmers. Reported FMD outbreaks have fallen from 132 in 2019 to 40 in 2025, while Brucellosis outbreaks declined from 22 to 15 during the same period.
The Nagal pig is a familiar part of rural life in many parts of the state, where pig rearing remains closely linked with household livelihoods, food traditions and local agriculture. Until now, however, the breed existed largely as a locally maintained population without a separate national identity.
The new guide documents the diversity and ecological importance of India’s grasslands, savannas, scrublands, deserts and other open landscapes. It also examines their links with rural livelihoods, pastoral communities, biodiversity conservation, land restoration and climate resilience.
Despite carrying the name of Manipur, the species has historically been associated with a wider belt extending through parts of Manipur, Assam and the adjoining northeastern grassland landscape. Its extremely secretive habits, combined with massive losses of its original grassland habitat, have made it one of the most difficult Indian birds to study.
The Masked Finfoot has since undergone catastrophic decline across much of Asia. It was upgraded to Critically Endangered in 2022, and the eastern Sundarbans of Bangladesh are now considered its most important surviving stronghold.
Small, stocky and unusually active during daylight, the Forest Owlet was once feared to have disappeared forever. After going unrecorded for 113 years, it was dramatically rediscovered in northern Maharashtra in 1997. Subsequent surveys have established surviving populations in parts of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, but its distribution remains highly fragmented and restricted.
The breed is principally associated with the Marathwada region of Maharashtra and adjoining northern Karnataka, particularly the wider belt around Latur and Bidar. ICAR’s National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources officially identifies Maharashtra and Karnataka as the home tract of Deoni cattle.
India is home to around 60% of the world’s wild Asian elephant population. Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted this global responsibility while marking World Elephant Day on August 12.
There is also an interesting historical dimension to the breed’s name. Tharparkar takes its name from Tharparkar district in Sindh, now in Pakistan, which formed part of undivided India, while its recognised breeding tract in present-day India includes Barmer, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur in Rajasthan and Kutch in Gujarat.
