NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh highlighted the ongoing plight of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard, recalling how a chance moment involving former prime minister Indira Gandhi helped spur nationwide conservation efforts nearly five decades ago.
In a post on X, Ramesh recounted an episode from June 21, 1976, when Indira Gandhi traveled to Haldighati in Rajasthan to mark the 400th anniversary of the historic battle that immortalized Maharana Pratap.
“During her flight to Udaipur, Gandhi came across a front-page photograph and a report in the Hindustan Times on the alarming decline of the Great Indian Bustard, one of India’s rarest birds,” he said.
According to Ramesh, the report deeply disturbed Gandhi.
On landing in Udaipur, she met a group of bird enthusiasts led by noted ecologist Harsh Vardhan, then a member of the Rajasthan Wildlife Board.
The interaction, Ramesh said, “became the catalyst for a focused conservation program aimed at protecting the species and conserving its fragile desert habitat.”
He noted that the initiative also led to steps towards establishing a National Desert Park across Jaisalmer and Barmer districts, now considered one of the last bastions of the Great Indian Bustard.
“The sequence of events triggered the conservation program for the Great Indian Bustard, as well as steps to establish the National Desert Park near Jaisalmer and Barmer,” Ramesh wrote.
The Congress leader also recalled that the Great Indian Bustard was once proposed as the national bird of India by renowned ornithologist Salim Ali in 1961.
But the Indian peacock was eventually selected two years later by the Indian Wildlife Board, headed by the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, because of its stronger historical, cultural and religious significance.
Despite decades of conservation efforts, the Great Indian Bustard continues to face serious threats, including habitat loss and collisions with power lines.
Classified as critically endangered, the species survives in very small numbers, mainly in Rajasthan.
However, conservatives have reported encouraging signs this year.
In April, three Great Indian Bustard chicks were born at two specialized breeding centers in Jaisalmer.
According to Brijmohan Gupta, Deputy Conservator of Forests at the National Desert Park, the total population of the species in the two centers has now increased to 82.
