SC seeks Centre’s response on evolving a programme to protect Great Indian Bustard

• The Supreme Court sought the government’s response about evolving a ‘Project Great Indian Bustard’ conservation program like the ‘Project Tiger’ to bring attention to the peril faced by the critically endangered bird species.

Supreme Court’s intervention

• The Supreme Court has ordered that all overhead power transmission lines in core and potential GIB habitats in Rajasthan and Gujarat should be undergrounded.
• The SC also formed a three-member committee to help power companies comply with the order.

Conservation measures

• In 2015, the Central government launched the GIB species recovery program.
• Under the program, the WII and Rajasthan Forest departments have jointly set up conservation breeding centers where GIB eggs are harvested from the wild.
• They have been incubated artificially and hatchlings raised in a controlled environment.

Great Indian Bustards

• GIBs are the largest among the four bustard species found in India, the other three being
• MacQueen’s bustard
• lesser florican
• Bengal florican.
• GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent but it has now shrunken to just 10 percent of it. Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats.
• GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland.

On the brink of extinction

• The GIB population in India had fallen to just 150.
• Pakistan is also believed to host a few GIBs and yet openly supports their hunting.

Protection accorded

• Birdlife International: uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered (2011)
• CITES protection: Appendix I
• IUCN status: Critically Endangered
• Wildlife (Protection) Act: Schedule I

Threats

• Poor vision: Due to their poor frontal vision, can’t detect powerlines in time and their weight makes in-flight quick maneuvers difficult.
• Windmills: Coincidentally, Kutch and Thar desert are the places that have witnessed the creation of huge renewable energy infrastructure.
• Noise pollution: Noise affects the mating and courtship practices of the GIB.
• Changes in the landscape: by way of farmers cultivating their land, which otherwise used to remain fallow due to frequent droughts in Kutch.
• Cultivation changes: Cultivation of cotton and wheat instead of pulses and fodder are also cited as reasons for falling GIB numbers.

Prelims Take Away

• Great Indian Busturd
• Project Tiger