Time for bustard bachao mission

AHMEDABAD: The population of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) has gone down by 60% in Gujarat. As against 48 bustards reported in the state in 2010, there are less than 20 bustards (GIB) left in Gujarat, according to the latest report of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN has already classified the bird as a critically endangered species.
Sources in Gujarat forest department said that the 2010 population estimate had revealed that the number of bustards in the state had increased from 45 to 48 in 2009-2010.Later, however, officials said it was not an official census but an internal assessment carried out by the department during May. The actual number of bustards left in Kutch area is around 20.
IUCN's recent report states that the number of bustards (GIB) had drastically fallen across the country with less than 30 birds found in Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and AP. In Rajasthan, however, around 38 birds had been detected. The report states that in Kutch the latest estimate of bustard population is less than 20 birds. The population density of birds is 0.05 per square kilometre in around 400 square kilometre of the suitable habitat for the birds in Kutch.
The IUCN report states that recent decline of the bustard numbers had been noted in several areas, including Maharashtra, Kutch and Rajasthan. In Maharashtra, the latest population estimates suggest a population of only 15 bustards. A recent survey in Nashik failed to find the species while a survey in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra between April 2012 and May 2013 estimated around 6-7 bustards .
According to the IUCN, the Indian states in order of importance for the species are Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh while the sites in order of priority are Desert National Park Sanctuary (Rajasthan), Naliya (Gujarat), Warora (Maharashtra) and Bellary (Karnataka). The population of GIB has declined from an estimated 1,260 in 1969 to 300 in 2008 which is a fall of 82%.
The Centre had proposed to set up a breeding and research centre in Gujarat. According to the proposal, bustard eggs from Rajasthan would to be sent for breeding to Naliya in Kutch. However, chief minister Vasundhara Raje had last year instructed Rajasthan wildlife officials that no GIB eggs were to be shared with Gujarat.