The Great Indian Bustard is the largest of the four bustard species found in India. It is among the heaviest birds with flight and it lives in grasslands. In the past, these birds? habitat covered a majority of the Indian subcontinent. Now, it has shrunk to just 10 per cent of their historic habitat.
The Central Government stated recently that there are no Great Indian Bustards in Kutch Bustard Sanctuary in Gujarat?s Kutch district as on January 1 this year. This comes even as the Supreme Court, three months ago, ordered the power distribution companies to place their overhead powerlines underground in habitats located in Rajasthan and Kutch to prevent extinction.