Great Indian Bustard Release: Rewilding India's Most Critically Endangered Bird

1. Great Indian Bustard Release: Rewilding India's Most Critically Endangered Bird

Basic Concept

The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), locally called 'Godawan', is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world and is widely regarded as India's most critically endangered bird. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, placed in Appendix I of both CITES and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), and given the highest level of domestic protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. It is also the State Bird of Rajasthan. The species once ranged widely across the grasslands and semi-arid scrublands of western and central India, but its population has collapsed over the past few decades to only a few hundred birds, with the Thar Desert region of Rajasthan now its last major stronghold. The two biggest drivers of this decline are loss and degradation of open grassland habitat (converted to agriculture, industry and renewable-energy infrastructure) and collisions with high-voltage overhead power transmission lines, to which the bird is especially vulnerable because of its limited frontal vision and heavy body. Conservation biology distinguishes between 'in-situ' conservation (protecting a species within its natural habitat, for instance inside a national park or sanctuary) and 'ex-situ' conservation (breeding or maintaining a species outside its natural habitat, such as in a dedicated breeding centre, with a view to eventually reintroducing individuals back into the wild). The Government of India launched Project Great Indian Bustard (Project GIB) in 2016 as a Species Recovery Programme under the centrally sponsored 'Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH)' scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). A dedicated ex-situ breeding and conservation facility was set up in 2019 at Desert National Park, Jaisalmer (with breeding infrastructure at Ramdevra and a release site at Sudasari), through a partnership between the MoEFCC, the Rajasthan Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun. Two methods have been used to build up the captive population: 'head-starting', in which wild-laid eggs that would otherwise be at high risk of predation are collected, artificially incubated and hatched in captivity; and conventional captive breeding of birds already in the facility. Before any captive-reared bird can survive in the wild, it must go through 'rewilding' or a soft-release process, typically inside a specially designed tunnel-like enclosure that limits human contact and simulates natural desert conditions, so the bird does not remain imprinted on its human caretakers.

Core Context

During National Wildlife Week 2026, observed from 2 to 8 October under the theme 'Connecting Habitats, Thriving Wildlife', Project GIB reached its most significant milestone yet: the first-ever release of captive-bred Great Indian Bustards into the open wild. Birds reared at the Jaisalmer facility, after completing their rewilding-tunnel training, were released at Ramdevra on 3 October 2026 and at the Sudasari range of Desert National Park on 4 October 2026, with Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav attending the Sudasari release. Until this release, the captive population — built up to 97 birds, comprising 40 raised from wild-laid eggs collected under head-starting and 57 bred entirely in captivity — had remained inside protected breeding enclosures since the programme's large-scale captive-breeding phase began in 2019. This release therefore marks the formal transition of Project GIB from a captive-breeding exercise into an active in-the-wild reintroduction and population-augmentation programme for one of the world's rarest birds.

Latest Developments

• The released birds underwent an extended period of rewilding-tunnel training through 2025-26, designed to wean them off human dependency and prepare them for natural foraging, predator-avoidance and flight behaviour in open desert terrain.

• A purpose-built release aviary was constructed at Sudasari, Desert National Park, at a cost of approximately ₹9.25 crore, to support a gradual, monitored 'soft release' rather than an abrupt release into the open.

• Released birds are being fitted with satellite/GPS transmitters under a structured scientific monitoring and protection protocol, so that WII scientists and forest officials can track survival rates, ranging behaviour and adaptation, with this data expected to guide the scale and design of future release batches.

• The programme's first captive-bred GIB chick under the current facility hatched in March 2023; the captive population has grown steadily since through the combined head-starting and captive-breeding approach.

• This is being described as one of the first attempts globally to reintroduce a critically endangered bustard species into the wild from a captive-breeding programme, and conservationists are watching it closely for lessons applicable to other threatened bustard species, such as the Lesser Florican, and to large-bird conservation more broadly.

• Power-line collision remains a major residual threat in the release landscape; parallel mitigation measures being pursued in GIB habitat include installing bird diverters on transmission lines and selectively undergrounding power lines in the most critical bustard habitat, as earlier directed by the Supreme Court.

• The release was deliberately timed to Wildlife Week 2026, which the Ministry used nationally to highlight landscape connectivity and species-recovery efforts, aligning with this year's theme, 'Connecting Habitats, Thriving Wildlife.'

UPSC Prelims Pointers

• Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps): IUCN Red List status — Critically Endangered; CITES — Appendix I; CMS — Appendix I; Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 — Schedule I.

• It is the State Bird of Rajasthan and among the heaviest flying birds in the world.

• Primary stronghold: the Thar Desert grasslands of Rajasthan, centred on Desert National Park, Jaisalmer; smaller, fragmented populations also occur in Gujarat (Kutch), Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

• Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, is one of India's largest national parks, spread over roughly 3,162 sq. km. in the Thar Desert.

• Project GIB was launched in 2016; its large-scale captive-breeding phase began in 2019 through a partnership between the MoEFCC, the Rajasthan Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun.

• Project GIB operates as a Species Recovery Programme under the centrally sponsored 'Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH)' scheme.

• National Wildlife Week is observed every year from 2 to 8 October; the 2026 theme is 'Connecting Habitats, Thriving Wildlife.'

• 'Head-starting' is the technique of collecting wild-laid eggs for artificial incubation to boost captive stock without removing adult birds from the wild.

• The single biggest anthropogenic threat to GIB survival is collision with high-voltage overhead power transmission lines, linked to the bird's limited frontal vision.