NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh highlighted the continuing plight of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard, recalling how a chance moment involving former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi helped trigger nationwide conservation efforts nearly five decades ago.
In a post on X, Ramesh recounted an episode from June 21, 1976, when Indira Gandhi travelled to Haldighati in Rajasthan to mark the 400th anniversary of the historic battle that immortalised Maharana Pratap.
“During her flight to Udaipur, Gandhi came across a front-page photograph and 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 concerned Gandhi.
Upon 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 programme aimed at protecting the species and preserving its fragile desert habitat”.
He noted that the initiative also led to steps towards the creation of the sprawling Desert National Park across Jaisalmer and Barmer districts, now considered one of the last strongholds of the Great Indian Bustard.
“The sequence of events triggered the conservation programme for the Great Indian Bustard as well as steps to establish the sprawling Desert National Park near Jaisalmer and Barmer,” Ramesh wrote.
The Congress leader also recalled that the Great Indian Bustard had once been proposed as India’s national bird by renowned ornithologist Salim Ali in 1961.
But, the Indian peacock was eventually selected two years later by the Indian Board for Wildlife, chaired by the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, owing to its stronger historical, cultural and religious significance.
Despite decades of conservation efforts, the Great Indian Bustard continues to face severe threats, including habitat loss and collisions with power lines.
Classified as critically endangered, the species survives in very small numbers, largely in Rajasthan.
Still, conservationists have reported encouraging signs this year.
In April, three Great Indian Bustard chicks were born at two specialised breeding centres in Jaisalmer.
According to Brijmohan Gupta, Deputy Conservator of Forests at Desert National Park, the total population of the species at the two centres has now risen to 82.