Senior Congress leader and former Union Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday said Madhya Pradesh's Kuno Palpur Sanctuary should be made the second habitat for lions after Gujarat's Gir in order to conserve them.
He said it was dangerous from the genetic point of view to have lions living in just one eco-system as is the case now.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of the Bhopal Literature and Art Festival (BLF) 2020 at Bharat Bhawan here.
"The tiger is found in 14 states while the lion is found only in one state in the country. From the genetic point of view, it is dangerous to have large population of lions only in one eco-system like Gir," he said.
"If there is just one habitat, the entire population can be wiped out. That is why I advise that a second habitat for the Asiatic lion be made in Madhya Pradesh," he said, advocating Kuno Palpur Sanctuary for the purpose.
Speaking on other issues, Ramesh said the 'Ease of Doing Business' ranking propagated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a dangerous thought.
"Ease of doing business is a very dangerous thought. As in if someone says this law, or these standards are against ease of doing business, therefore they should be removed," he said.
"I am worried here as we are at 77th rank in Ease of Doing Business. If we want to reach 50th rank, we may have to dilute laws related to environment. So this is dangerous. I don't agree at all to this ease of doing business," he said.
The BLF was inaugurated by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath in the evening in the presence of state Culture Minister Vijay Laxmi Sadho, former IAS official Raghav Chandra and senior journalist and MP Cricket Association president Abhilash Khandekar.
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