The Great Indian Bustard: Once in the race to become national bird, now struggling for existence

Every time Radheshyam Bishnoi comes across the carcass of a great Indian bustard, his heart sinks a little. Only about 140 of these birds are alive, he knows. Over a metre tall, the rare bustard stands out in the dry grasslands of Jaisalmer with its long white neck and legs, its fashionable black crest and brown wings hemmed by black feathers. “I have seen five deaths in the past seven years: three were caused by the bird hitting power lines; one was attacked by a dog and another got entangled in a fencing wire,” says Bishnoi, who works in Pokhran as a wildlife community volunteer to save and create awareness about this bird on the brink of extinction.

Locally called ‘godawan’, the great Indian bustard (GIB) has been categorised as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The bird, which once inhabited 12 states, is wiped out from 90% of its former habitat and is confined to three small pockets: Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, the grasslands of Kutch in Gujarat and the trijunction of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. About 100 of these birds are in Jaisalmer alone. Rajasthan’s flagship species and state bird, it was once in the race to be India’s national bird.

Gaming and hunting had wiped out most of its population till 1972 when hunting was banned. Its drastic falling numbers since then — from 1,000 in 1980 to less than 150 now — has been attributed to the shrinking of its habitat due to the conversion of grasslands and scrublands for agricultural and industrial use, attack by feral dogs and wild pigs, and collision with windmills. “The biggest threat to these birds are the overhead high-tension wires,” says Yadvendradev Jhala, dean, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, who has been spearheading a captive breeding programme of the Great Indian Bustard. As per a WII survey, 18 birds on an average die every year due to collision with electricity lines.

The great Indian bustard is among the bulkiest of flying birds. “They weigh around 15 kilos, making it difficult for them to manoeuvre their course when they approach electricity lines or windmills, leading to fatalities or injuries,” says DN Pandey, principal chief conservator of forest, Rajasthan. Poor frontal vision and propensity to scan the ground while flying make them even more susceptible to collision.

Vast open lands, the natural habitat of bustards, are also the ideal space for setting up wind turbines and solar panels. As India moves towards expanding its renewable power capacity, windmills that have sprung up across the bird’s habitat are turning out to be its giant slayer.

To save it from extinction, the Supreme Court ordered in 2021 that transmission lines in the bustard’s habitat in Gujarat and Rajasthan should be laid underground.

The Supreme Court constituted a threemember committee to assess the feasibility of laying power lines underground in Kutch and Jaisalmer. “The lines can definitely be laid underground. There are precedents for doing this — even for highvoltage power lines — in many states. The cost can be exponentially high for the latter but it is feasible,” says one of the committee members.

Later, in April 2022, an interim order issued by the apex court mandated retrofitting, by July, of high-voltage overhead wires with bird diverters — reflectors that warn the bird from afar.

“The ministry of new and renewable energy has requested power transmission line agencies and wind energy farm developers to take up risk-mitigation measures against bird hits such as putting up bird diverters on conductors, painting of vane tips of wind turbines, etc,” says a senior official of the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF), on condition of anonymity. When asked if the ministry has asked the power companies about the delay in laying cables underground, the official says: “The matter is sub-judice and likely to be listed before a three-member special bench on October 20.”

While some companies feel the huge cost will jeopardise solar and wind power projects, others have at least installed bird diverters. “In compliance with the honourable Supreme Court’s interim order to protect the Great Indian Bustard bird species, ReNew Power has already installed 8,000-plus bird diverters, and is awaiting the final order in this case,” a ReNew Power spokesperson has stated.

WII has said in its report that unless power line mortality is brought down, extinction of the Great Indian Bustard is certain. It has been identified as one of the priority species for the recovery programme by the Government of India in 2009.

While Rajasthan has been able to at least keep its flock of 100-odd bustards together, Gujarat, which takes pride in its lions, is on the verge of losing all its bustards. Only three females remain in the grasslands of Kutch. “We are exploring ways to save the bustards,” says Gujarat chief wildlife warden Nityanand Srivastava. “We might tie up with the Rajasthan or Maharashtra government to either get some males or give away our females. Now the situation is very fluid. Any decision will be taken in consultation with the Government of India as this will involve shifting of the birds,” he adds.

Laying the wires underground is financially unviable, he says, as the costs would be enormous.

“The wires are spread across a vast stretch of land. I doubt laying such high-voltage wires underground is technically feasible,” he adds. Meanwhile, MoEF, along with the Rajasthan government and the WII, has undertaken a captive breeding project at Jaisalmer to save the Great Indian Bustard. “The objective of this programme is to build a captive population of the bustard and to release the chicks in the wild to increase its population and to promote in-situ conservation of the species,” says the ministry official.

The project has shown promising results. “We already have 25 chicks from eggs collected from the wild. It will take another three years for them to be ready for breeding and reintroduction in the wild,” says Arindam Tomar, chief wildlife warden, Rajasthan. “As of now, the breeding programme is doing well but we have achieved only 50% of the task as we have yet to breed the birds (in captivity),” says Jhala.

Will some of the birds be given to the neighbouring states such as Gujarat or Maharashtra?

“Rajasthan has played a key role in the conservation of this species. Once the population here becomes self-sustainable and viable — we are thinking of a meta population of 500 each in west and east Rajasthan — we would help other states, provided the respective state forest departments show evidence of improved habitat and eliminate factors responsible for the wiping out of their population,” says Pandey.

Jhala gives more details. “We might have a surplus population after three years. We will be sharing them with states that develop safe habitats that would include 400 sq km of safe grasslands devoid of overhead power lines and no wild beasts such as feral dogs,” he explains.

While the captive breeding programme of the bustard, aimed at the revival of the species, has shown results, experts feel safeguarding the habitat and local support for captive-bred birds is also important. As a silver lining, conservationists are enthralled at the sighting of two eggs this monsoon. “Bustards lay one egg every year or two but in this breeding season, I have spotted three nests with two eggs each,” says Bishnoi.

As India lays the red carpet for cheetahs from Africa, neglecting the bustards by not protecting its habitat could sound its death knell. “If we don’t mitigate threats in the wild such as the (overhead) power lines, its survival is questionable. The government’s conviction to make the habitat safe will decide if the bustard will remain for the next 30 years or not,” says Jhala.