In an editorial, the newspaper argues that recovery of the Great Indian Bustard depends on safeguarding its habitat and criticises conservation focused on isolated reserves and emblematic species.
An editorial in The Hindu argues that protecting the Great Indian Bustard requires conserving entire landscapes, rather than relying mainly on captive breeding and isolated protected sites. Two male birds were released this week at Desert National Park in Jaisalmer. The paper says the programme now has 97 birds, with nine more awaiting release. Fifty-seven are captive-bred and produced 29 chicks this year and 24 last year.
The newspaper puts the species’ population at around 120. It fell from about 1,260 in 1969 to 600 by 2000 and 140–175 in Rajasthan in the 2010s. The editorial cites hunting, the conversion of grasslands into irrigated fields and road construction among the threats. High-tension power lines pose a particular danger because the heavy birds fly at wire height and have poor vision. The Supreme Court ordered low-voltage lines in priority habitats to be buried in 2021, but later narrowed the order to critical habitats after objections from renewable-energy companies.
The Hindu presents the bustard’s plight as part of a wider conservation problem. It argues that policy often favours emblematic species and isolated reserves while many birds lose their habitats. The editorial says about 1,256 bird species, or 11.5% of the global total, are classified as threatened. It calls for landscapes and ecosystems, where wildlife and people can coexist, to become the primary unit of conservation.