The Supreme Court of India sought an update from the committee formed for making power lines underground in Rajasthan and Gujarat ordered a year ago.
Context
The Supreme Court of India sought an update from the committee formed for making power lines underground in Rajasthan and Gujarat ordered a year ago.
About Great Indian Bustard (GIB)
- The Great Indian Bustard is the State bird of Rajasthan and is considered India’s most critically endangered bird.
- The birds weigh 14-15 kilograms each and can reach a height of up to 4 feet, making them too heavy to change their course mid-way when they wander too close to power lines.
- It is considered the flagship grassland species, representing the health of the grassland ecology.
- GIB is one of the most critically threatened species in India, with less than 150 birds left in the wild.
- GIBs are one of the heaviest flying birds in India.
- Only two districts in Rajasthan — Jaisalmer and Barmer— have a breeding GIB population in the wild.
- The bird can also be found in very small numbers in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
- The bird is under constant threats due to collision/electrocution with power transmission lines, hunting (still prevalent in Pakistan), habitat loss and alteration as a result of widespread agricultural expansion, etc.
Protection Status
- IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered
- CITES: Appendix I
- Convention on Migratory Species (CMS): Appendix I
- Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
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Threat to the species
- The habitat of the state bird of Rajasthan — the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) or Godavan — is under threat due to the zigzag web of high-tension power lines through the sacred groves of Jaisalmer.
- The sacred groves of the Degrai Oran and adjoining area are few of the last remaining habitats of the GIB.
- Wind farms and solar parks in the area have encroached upon the grasslands and the high-tension power lines criss-crossing through several points in the region pose a threat of electrocution of the big birds.
- SC had ordered the power companies in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat to make the high-tension power lines underground so that the large birds do not get caught in the web.
- Around 122 of the total 150 GIBs found in the country were in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, according to a 2018 GIB count.
- The rest were scattered in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
