Rajasthan: After Jaisalmer, Ajmer might be new home for Great Indian Bustards
A day after drone sightings were reported on May 8 in Jaisalmer, apart from Ramgarh, Pokhran, and Barmer in Rajasthan, the forest department relocated nine newly hatched GIB chicks to the conservation centre at Arwar in Ajmer, senior WII scientist Sutirtha Dutta said.
'As the Ramdevra Centre is located near the border, and in light of the tense situation and massive drone activity, the relocation was necessary to ensure the birds' safety and protection. We are exploring the option of whether we can keep them at the Arwar Centre permanently or return them to Jaisalmer once the situation stabilises,' Dutta said.
Arwar was chosen as it already hosts the Lesser Florican Conservation Centre and is equipped with the necessary infrastructure for handling such sensitive conservation operations. Developed jointly by the WII and the forest department, the centre aims to reverse the drastic decline of the country's most endangered grassland bird, Lesser Florican (Sypheotides indicus), known for its dramatic courtship leaps during the monsoon.
Also Read: Great Indian Bustard conservation milestones: 3 born in a day, 4 in a week
The GIB chicks, aged between five to 20 days, were transported in specially designed soft-suspension vehicles to ensure their comfort and safety. 'The transportation was conducted under the supervision of expert handlers, with a dedicated team of trainers accompanying the chicks to ensure their well-being throughout the journey,' Dutta said.
'Discussions on the possibility of keeping the GIB chicks there and provide a second home for them are going on. A final decision will be taken in the coming days,' deputy conservator of forest at the Desert National Park (DNP) in Jaisalmer Brijmohan Gupta.
Also Read: Boost for fight to save Great Indian Bustard as chick born through IVF
The population of the critically endangered GIB under India's national breeding programme has doubled from its founding number in just two years. On May 9, 2025, the programme marked the hatching of its 18th chick of the year, with nine of them born through artificial insemination—a groundbreaking achievement in avian conservation. The remaining chicks were born naturally under controlled, captive conditions, officials said.
Since the beginning in June 2019, the Bustard Recovery Programme has successfully reared 62 birds in total from wild-collected eggs and through captive breeding efforts, officials added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Six GIBs sighted in Pak's Cholistan desert in rare wildlife record
Jaisalmer: Photographs showing six Great Indian Bustards roaming in Pakistan's Cholistan Desert were shared on social media by Pakistani wildlife expert and photographer Syed Rizwan Mehboob. In a post on X, Mehboob termed the sighting as a "new record" in rare wildlife sightings in Pakistan. "I clicked six critically endangered Great Indian Bustards (GIB) in the Cholistan desert today. Amazing conservation effort by Punjab Wildlife Dept - I am in tears having seen 10% of global GIB population today," he said, adding that this includes the first-ever recorded pictures of mating foreplay by the critically endangered GIBs from Pakistan's Cholistan Desert on July 20, 2025. Mehbood said his excitement stems from the realisation that GIB breeding may begin in Pakistan soon since the gular sac of the GIB, inflated as a courtship display, was visible in the photographs. Last year, five GIBs and one chick were observed in Pakistan's Cholistan. This year, the sighting of six GIBs has confirmed the existence of a pocket of GIB population in Pakistan. Dr Sumit Dookia, a senior wildlife expert associated with the ERDS Foundation, involved in community wildlife conservation in Jaisalmer, said that sighting six GIBs in a day was a rare occurrence, adding that the species requires undisturbed open grasslands. tnn
Scroll.in
15-07-2025
- Scroll.in
Five years to go, India's climate action SDGs show worsening trend
For the first time, India entered the top 100 countries in the annual Sustainable Development Report, which assesses progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs. India ranked 99th out of 167 nations in the 2025 report, up from 109 in 2024 and 112 in 2023, but the data reveals that sustainability challenges remain, especially in relation to environmental goals. This year's report shows that only one-third of India's SDG targets, meant to be achieved by 2030, are 'on track', while there is limited progress on others with some even slipping backwards. India is firmly on track with progress on two of the 17 SDG goals, No Poverty (SDG 1) and Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10). Progress on others, including Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG 9), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12), and Life on Land (SDG 15), is stagnating. Other goals, such as Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7) and Life Below Water (SDG 14), are showing moderate improvement. Most concerning is Climate Action (SDG 13), which shows a worsening trend, indicating that India's efforts to take action to combat climate change and its impacts are not improving. The scores signal that without a dramatic policy shift and vigorous implementation, India risks falling short of the 20230 target to achieve the SDG goals. The annual report, released since 2016 is prepared by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network which operates under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General, to drive action on the SDGs. Water stress and coal National statistics paint a rosy picture. India boasts nearly universal electrification, clean cooking, and safe sanitation. For instance, 80% of rural households now have an improved drinking-water source through tap water, 100% have access to electricity, and 85% use clean cooking fuel. Yet global assessments remain cautious. The 2025 report flags India's performance on Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6) as only 'moderately improving,' citing unsustainable freshwater withdrawals and the hidden toll of water‐intensive imports. Venkatesh Dutta, a professor at School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, points out that 'we have not progressed much on water circularity', meaning the water the country pulls out isn't being reused by industry, and overall, freshwater withdrawals keep rising. He warns that India's focus needs to shift to resource sustainability. 'Nobody is talking about resource sustainability. Your freshwater is being obstructed and it is not being returned back to nature in the state in which you took it,' he says, indicating that the country must think about what happens to water after industries use it. Dutta adds that industrial growth often concentrates in areas already short on water, so policy must ensure that after use – especially in big clusters like power plants – water is cleaned and reused. 'Water has to be reused,' he says, suggesting rules that force industries to use treated wastewater for cooling and other needs. But at the current pace, he warns, 'we are not going to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030'. India's progress towards Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 7, paints a similar picture, with the report noting that the country's score on this SDG is moderately improving but insufficient to attain the goal. Access to power is nearly universal, and renewable energy capacity is expanding rapidly, yet the energy mix in India is still dominated by coal, and carbon emissions remain high. Without a faster shift to green energy, this goal will remain off track. 'We've achieved almost 100% electrification in terms of connections, but coal still provides over 70% of the electricity that flows through the grid. Renewables account for around 45% of the installed capacity, yet their share has hovered around 22%-24% in recent years in terms of actual generation. We expect coal's share to fall below 50% by 2030 as renewable capacity further expands, ' says Debajit Palit, Centre Head at the Centre for Climate Change and Energy Transition, Chintan Research Foundation. 'In absolute terms, though India ranks among the top five carbon emitters globally, yet our per-capita emissions remain extremely low. Over the last decade, our economy has grown at around 6.5 to 8% annually, while our carbon emissions have risen at only about 4%, showing we're improving the carbon intensity of our growth,' says Palit. He also highlights the issue related to clean cooking fuel. 'LPG has helped expand clean-cooking access, but it is still a fossil fuel. The real goal is electric cooking, powered by a greener grid. This shift won't happen overnight, but we're on the right path,' notes Palit. Sustainability falters India is witnessing rapid urbanisation and the challenges that come with it have been documented in several reports, including the recent SDG report. It assesses India's performance on Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11) using four indicators – the proportion of urban population living in slums, air pollution, access to improved water source, and public transport. Except for the access to public transport, performance on the other three indicators is either stagnant or worsening. Nearly one in four urban Indians still lives in slums or informal settlements. Air pollution also remains severe, and this is corroborated by other reports such as a recent World Bank study that found that all of India's 1.4 billion people – 100% of the country's population – are exposed to outdoor air pollution above World Health Organization safety limits. Reducing PM 2.5 pollution and upgrading water and housing for urban dwellers must become urgent policy priorities, says Palit. He adds that air pollution sources are deeply embedded within city systems, from vehicular emissions, construction dust, and small-scale industries, to poorly enforced environmental regulations. 'We need a more holistic, comprehensive reform and continuous monitoring of vehicles, industries, and construction,' he says, adding that 'our enforcement is very weak.' Citing the example of Delhi, Palit notes that despite bans on older vehicles, 95% of fitness checks are still conducted manually, making it difficult to track real-time particulate emissions. He argues for a shift toward a 'data-centric enforcement model' that can accurately monitor and regulate polluters. Moreover, shifting polluting industries from city peripheries, such as Noida or Faridabad, faces political and economic resistance. 'The government needs to create an incentive mechanism to enable this shift,' he says. Performance on Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 12, also remains a critical concern. While India's economic expansion has lifted millions out of poverty, it has also driven up resource extraction and pollution. Production-based air and nitrogen emissions continue to exceed safe limits, even as municipal solid-waste collection and e-waste recycling show modest improvement. Climate and biodiversity According to the Sustainable Development Report, India's efforts towards Climate Action, SDG13, are 'decreasing, with challenges', especially with emissions from the combustion and oxidation of fossil fuels and from cement production increasing. India has pledged expansion of solar and wind energy and participates actively in international climate talks; however, its greenhouse gas emissions are rising as it develops. India's per capita carbon dioxide emissions from fuel and cement are still substantial (the country now emits more CO₂ in total than any nation except China and the US). Major challenges remain in India's efforts to protect Life Below Water, SDG 14, and Life on Land, SDG 15, notes the report. Marine biodiversity protections and fish stock management show limited progress. Fishing practices, such as trawling, are putting ocean life under strain. On land, deforestation, soil degradation, and habitat loss pose a significant risk to India's biodiversity and forest cover. Conservation programs exist, but they cannot keep up with the pace of habitat destruction. India's rise to 99th place is a milestone, but without swift and enforceable action on water, energy, and pollution, this achievement risks being undone.
The Hindu
14-07-2025
- The Hindu
Why must India recognise its open ecosystems?
The story so far: Deserts are often imagined as failures of nature, and barren wastelands in need of redemption. This worldview fuels grand ambitions to 'green' the desert, through afforestation, irrigation schemes, or even climate engineering. This gives way to the idea that deserts are broken ecosystems. So pervasive is this vilification, that land degradation is also known as 'desertification', and June 17 every year is celebrated as World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Are deserts important? In truth, deserts are ancient, diverse, and resilient biomes, finely tuned to extremes. They occupy nearly one-third of the Earth's terrestrial surface, and are home to uniquely adapted plants, animals, and human cultures. It is ironic that humans disregard deserts, when several early civilisations were set in desert climates, whether in early Mesopotamia, Egypt, or the Indus valley. Indeed, some historians argue that it is these very harsh desert conditions that prompted humans to develop complex societies and technologies that could invent ingenious ways of irrigation to survive in otherwise inhospitable conditions. What about other open spaces? India's relationship with open spaces is full of contradictions. On the one hand, we fetishise them. Real estate ads routinely promise sweeping lawns with names like Savana or Utopia. But when it comes to the country's own vast open natural ecosystems such as grasslands, savannas, scrublands and open woodlands, we have done the opposite. These landscapes have been systematically ignored in policy or worse, actively erased. On official maps, millions of hectares of these ecosystems are classified as wastelands, a term inherited from colonial land-use categories. In policy terms, a wasteland is land waiting to be fixed, often by planting trees, converting it for agriculture or paving it over for industry. What should be protected and stewarded has instead become a target for transformation. India's deserts, grasslands and savannas are home to species found nowhere else: the Great Indian Bustard, the caracal, the Indian wolf etc. These ecosystems also store carbon, not in big trees above ground but rather, deep in the soil. Equally important are the communities dependent on them. Millions of pastoral groups such as the Dhangar, Rabari, Kuruba etc. depend on these ecosystems for grazing. When we fence off grasslands or plant 'forests' on them, it's not just ecology we damage but also livelihoods, mobility, and local knowledge systems. In many cases, pastoralist groups are also stewards of biodiversity and ecosystem health. However, Indian grasslands and pastoralist systems have not received the desired protection and management. What should be the road ahead? Rather than trying to turn deserts into forests, we should study how life thrives without abundance. This is not to say that land degradation should not be addressed. Reversing degradation in drylands requires careful restoration that respects native vegetation, focuses on soil and moisture conservation, and draws from indigenous knowledge of land management. Low-tech solutions like water harvesting, rotational grazing, and protecting natural regrowth often outperform greenwashing projects that aim to plant millions of trees to 'green' the desert. We need policies that recognise ecosystem diversity, reward soil carbon storage, and support pastoralist land use. A functioning desert or savanna, with its intricate food webs, seasonal rhythms, and cultural continuities, is far more alive than a failed monoculture plantation. Perhaps it is time to rename World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought to World Day to Combat Land Degradation, and give deserts their respectable name back. The authors are with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment.
