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SC seeks update on Great Indian Bustard

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Polity & Governance
  • Published
    7th Apr, 2022

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

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.

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