GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD

Context: The Supreme Court intervene on behalf of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustards over the birds falling dead after colliding with power lines running through their dwindling natural habitats in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

More about news:

• A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde will examine on a priority basis whether overhead power cables can be replaced with underground ones to save one of the heaviest flying birds on the planet.
• Attorney General, appearing for the Power Ministry, submitted that only low voltage lines can go underground but not the high voltage ones.
• The court found further that an alternative mechanism — to install flight bird divertors — to guide the birds away from the power lines would end costing more than installing and maintaining underground lines.

Need:

• As per a report by the Wildlife Institute of India, only 150 Great Indian Bustards are left in India.
• The bird has disappeared from 90% of its original range.
• Great Indian Bustard habitats need to be declared as conservation reserves
• The mega flauna with largest wing span are on the “brink of extinction.

Great Indian Bustard (GIB):

• 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.
• Experts say 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.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/supreme-court-steps-in-to-protect-great-indian-bustard/article34075031.ece