Great Indian Bustards’ Protection

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• What are Great Indian Bustards (GIBs)?
• Habitat and Status of GIBs
• What are the threats for GIBs?
• What are the different Conservation measures taken to protect GIBs?
• Supreme Court’s intervention to protect GIBs
• News Summary: Great Indian Bustards’ protection

Why in News?

• The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has proposed that only power lines below 33 KV need to go underground and the rest be fitted with bird-diverters. 
• Conservationists have objected to the proposal by saying that the move could lead to the “extinction” of the Great Indian Bustards.

 What are Great Indian Bustards (GIBs)?

• GIBs are the largest among the four-bustard species found in India.
  • The other three being MacQueen’s bustard, lesser florican and the Bengal florican.
• Being terrestrial birds, they spend most of their time on the ground with occasional flights to go from one part of their habitat to the other. 
• They feed on insects, lizards, grass seeds etc. GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland and hence barometers of the health of grassland ecosystems.

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Habitat and Status of GIBs

• This bird, found mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, has been categorized as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
  • As per the 2021 report of the IUCN, they are on the verge of extinction with hardly 50 to 249 of them alive.
• GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent but it has now shrunken to just 10 per cent of it. 
• Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats. 

What are the threats for GIBs?

• Scientists of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have been pointing out overhead power transmission lines as the biggest threat to the GIBs.
  • WII research has concluded that in Rajasthan, 18 GIBs die every year after colliding with overhead powerlines.
  • These birds, due to their poor frontal vision, cannot detect powerlines in time and their weight make in-flight quick manoeuvres difficult.
• Kutch and Thar desert are the places which have witnessed creation of huge renewable energy infrastructure over the past two decades.
• This led to installation of windmills and construction of power lines even in core GIB areas.

What are the different Conservation measures taken to protect GIBs?

• In 2015, the Central government launched the GIB species recovery programme. 
• Under the programme, the WII and Rajasthan Forest department have jointly set up conservation breeding centres where GIB eggs harvested from the wild are incubated artificially and hatchlings raised in controlled environment. 
• The plan is to create a population which can act as insurance against the threat of extinction and release the third generation of these captive-bred birds into the wild.

Supreme Court’s intervention to protect GIBs

• The SC in April 2021 ordered that all overhead power transmission lines in core and potential GIB habitats in Rajasthan and Gujarat be made underground.
• The SC also formed a three-member committee, including Devesh Gadhvi, the member of the bustard specialist group of IUCN, to help power companies comply with the order.
• Again, in November 2022, the court sought reports from chief secretaries of the two states in six weeks on installation of bird diverters in priority areas.
• It also asked them to assess the length of transmission lines need to go underground. 

News Summary: Great Indian Bustards’ protection

• Recently, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) issued Draft Central Electricity Authority (Construction of Electric Lines in Great Indian Bustard Area) Regulations, 2023.
  • CEA is India’s apex power regulator. It seeks to make technical standards & regulations in the power sector of the country. 
  • CEA is primarily responsible for standards related to safety of power grid.
• According to this, all electric lines of 33 kV and below passing through the ‘Great Indian Bustard Area’ will be underground, while those above 33KV will be overhead lines installed with bird flight diverters.
• The petitioners in the Supreme Court case have objected to the regulations.
  • As per them, this regulation is in direct violation of the court’s directives and a threat to the endangered species.
  • They have also claimed that the overhead power lines are the biggest threat to the birds.

Q1) What is Central Electricity Authority (CEA)?

Central Electricity Authority seeks to make technical standards & regulations in the power sector of the country. CEA is primarily responsible for standards related to safety of power grid.

Q2) What is Wildlife Institute of India (WII)?

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. It was established in 1982 to carry out research and training in wildlife conservation and management. The institute is located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

Source: 

Great Indian Bustards’ protection | CEA regulations violate SC rules, pose threat to endangered species: petitioners | e-AMRIT | The Hindu