Ministry of Environment Says Work on Great Indian Bustard Breeding Center has Begun

A great Indian bustard in its natural habitat.

It has been recently reported that the Ministry of Environment and Forests has began the process of setting up a national conservation breeding center for the critically endangered great Indian bustard. In a written reply to the Parliament's Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar indicated that the plan is still in its introductory stage and therefore there is no specification of time limit. The initiation process of setting up a national conservation breeding center for the bustard was based on the advice of a workshop conducted on January 17, 2014 on "Feasibility and Roadmap for Great Indian Bustard Captive Breeding." Minister Javadekar also added that the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan have been petitioned to consider making available approximately four square kilometers of sufficient land and provide fifty percent of the anticipated capital cost of Rs. 30 crore over a two-year period. He further stated that an everlasting pledge of fifty percent of a predicted yearlong running cost of Rs. two crore for roughly fifteen years has been sought from the three states.

Minister State for Environment Prakash Javadekar

This article indicates that the road to recovery for the great Indian bustard is on the verge of being underway. While it has not been disclosed as to how long the plan will last, it is clear that the state governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan have been petitioned to consider making an area of roughly four square kilometers for the bustards to flourish. Nonetheless, I think this is the beginning of a crusade for India to help save the great Indian bustards through captive breeding with the process of establishing a national conservation breeding center. I very much hope that the state governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan will play important roles in providing sufficient land area for the great Indian bustard to thrive since the bird happens to inhabit these three states. All three of them consist of open grassland habitat which is ideal for the bustard, but much of the areas have been converted to agricultural land which has pushed the bustard to the brink of extinction. This is why it is extremely crucial to identify and conserve patches of land relevant for the birds' survival and conduct captive breeding efforts to help them make a comeback to areas across India where they had once disappeared.

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