Book Review: ‘Bringing the Cheetah Back’ to India by Prashant Agrawal

Book Title: Bringing the Cheetah Back to India
Author: Prashant Agrawal
Publisher: Hachette India
Number of Pages: 224
ISBN: 9357316531
Date Published: May 19, 2026

Book Review

“Bringing the Cheetah Back to India“, authored by India’s High Commissioner to Namibia, Prashant Agrawal and published by Hachette India, offers an insider story of the diplomatic and ecological effort behind the reintroduction of cheetahs to India after several decades of local extinction. The book situates this initiative within a broader framework of international cooperation, highlighting how conservation goals intersected with statecraft, scientific planning, and policy coordination across countries.

The book follows the complex process of rewilding, including negotiations between governments, coordination with conservation institutions, and logistical challenges such as animal transport, quarantine, and habitat preparation. It also draws attention to the role of institutions such as wildlife conservation bodies in Namibia and India, and the collaboration required to manage a species transfer of this scale. Alongside procedural detail, the book incorporates reflections on the ethical and ecological considerations involved in restoring a predator to a changing environment.

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Overall, the work presents a case study in modern conservation diplomacy, showing how environmental restoration projects extend beyond biology into the realms of politics and international relations. While focused on a specific project, it also raises broader questions about rewilding, ecosystem management, and the long-term sustainability of such interventions. The book is positioned as both a realistic account and a documentation of a landmark conservation experiment in India.

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