Great Indian Bustard - going the Dodo way ?

Great Indian Bustard, or GIB was at the time of independence considered to be declared as India's national bird. However, due to concerns that 'bustard' would either be mispronounced or misheard(as 'bastard') which could bring national embarrassment, that baton went to the Peacock.

Today, due to large neglect and shrinking habitat their population has reduced to alarmingly low count of 150.

GIB is a heavy and low flying bird and a flagship grassland species found in Rajasthan & Gujarat. It is the State Bird of Rajasthan. 

Reasons for such alarming situation : 

• Habitat destruction and habitat deterioration - declining grasslands
• Poaching : rampant hunting 
• No clear cut land-use policy and domestic animal grazing policies in India
• mining and industrialization
• GIB is a slow breeder and the success rate of breeding is very less
• Construction of Windmills in the close vicinity of Sanctuary in Kutch
• Infrastructure intrusions such as roads and electric power lines in the desert leading to collision-related mortality
• Proposed expansion of RE infrastructure, which may involve deploying solar panels over large areas of desert and grasslands

Other issues : 

• Birds are not considered glamorous enough to be conserved, unlike mammals such as tigers. We spend Rs 160 cr/year on tigers; until recently we spent nothing on the GIBs

Steps taken to conserve the GIB : 

• 2011 - IUCN granted it "Critically Endangered" status 
• "Project Great Indian Bustard", a State of Rajasthan initiative
• Captive Breeding Programme (is it in situ or ex situ conservation technique ? ans)
• WWF-India has provided inputs in developing the ‘Guidelines for the State Action Plan for Resident Bustard Recovery Programme’.

Suggestions : 

• need for Project Bustard on lines of Project Tiger and Project Elephant
• identify the core breeding areas
• declaring critical areas a 'NO-GO' zone.
• linking local livelihoods with bustard conservation. 
• A profitable and equitable mechanism to share revenues generated from eco-tourism with local communities should be developed
• restriction on infrastructure development and land use diversion for roads, high tension electric poles, intensive agriculture, wind power generators and construction
• regularizing traditional pastoral activities especially during the breeding season
• Use of technology (GIS)  
• Renewable energy is critical in an era of Climate Change, but its placement must undergo scrutiny for biodiversity impacts.
• If granting National Status to the bird help in raising general awareness, and help in conservation, so be it.

If above steps are not taken on urgent basis , the bird might soon get extinct like Dodo in Mauritius. If it happens, it would be the first mega species to disappear from India after Cheetah in recent times. To prevent this, a holistic central government conservation programme with same spirit of Project Tiger is awaited. A failure will fly in the face of wildlife conservation in India.

Src : 

• https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/with-just-264-left-in-four-states-lesser-florican-bird-may-go-extinct-report/story-WvokVR4xhoFu2JAOYhAc9O.html
• https://orientalbirdclub.org/indian-bustard/
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