Dr M.K. Ranjitsinh belongs to the royal family of Wankaner. He joined the IAS in 1961. As collector of Mandla, MP, he helped save the central Indian barasingha from extinction. As secretary, forests and tourism, in MP, he established 14 new sanctuaries, 8 new national parks and more than doubled the area of 3 existing national parks, a total addition of over 9,000 sq. km. to the protected areas of the nation.

He was the prime architect of the Wildlife (Protection) Act; was director of wildlife preservation twice and additional secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forests. He was member secretary of the task force which initiated Project Tiger and he also initiated Project Snow Leopard; he helped save the Manipur sangai and other endangered species. The eastern subspecies of the barasingha is named after him.He worked with UNEP as senior regional advisor in Nature Conservation for the Asia-Pacific region. He has published numerous articles and two books, Beyond the Tiger and The Indian Blackbuck, which is the subject of his PhD thesis.