The patronising tone of an article by The Economist is striking, and its colonial lens is hard to ignore. It is deeply offensive that a British publication should lecture India on conservation when British colonial rule saw our lions and tigers hunted to the brink of extinction. Today, India is bringing them back.

Since ancient times Indians have understood that humans and animals can share a landscape. Tamil Nadu’s Jallikattu is one living expression of that ancient harmony. These achievements deserve to be celebrated and championed, not viewed through a patronising colonial lens.

India’s Project Cheetah has gone from an audacious idea to 60 cheetahs, 41 born in India. There were initial setbacks, including adult deaths and cub mortality, but the Indian Government persevered, learnt and adapted. It is an extraordinary moment of genuine national pride: India has achieved the world’s first intercontinental translocation of a large carnivore. India has also created the International Big Cat Alliance to take this conservation experience to the world.

Across India, tigers and Asiatic lions are recovering; the Great Indian Bustard in Rajasthan is being returned to the wild; snow leopards in Himachal Pradesh, Nilgiri Tahr and dugongs in Tamil Nadu, and rhinos and red pandas in the North east are being protected and their populations restored. India’s conservation story deserves to be celebrated, studied and taught around the world, not viewed through a colonial hangover that smacks of racism. – editor @nrifocus.com