Jaisalmer, October 3: Two captive-bred Great Indian Bustards (GIB) will be released from a soft-release facility into the wild at the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer on Sunday, after more than a decade of conservation breeding work. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, who joined by video conference, took part in starting the release process on Saturday during Wildlife Week 2026.
The Great Indian Bustard is critically endangered and is Rajasthan’s state bird. According to the Environment Ministry, the release marks a shift in India’s GIB programme from building a viable conservation-breeding population towards rewilding the species and adding to its numbers in its natural habitat.
The release is being carried out in a controlled manner, with only a few people allowed at the site to keep disturbance to the birds to a minimum. Lessons from this pilot release will be used to refine the protocols for later releases.
97 Great Indian Bustards in breeding centres
The GIB facilities at Sam and Ramdevra now house 97 birds. Of these, 40 came from eggs laid in the wild and 57 were bred in captivity. A total of 86 birds are being kept for captive breeding, while 11 have been set aside for release into the wild.
Captive breeding produced 24 live chicks in 2025 and 29 in 2026. Under a “jumpstart” approach, captive-laid eggs were placed in wild nests and accepted by the incubating females. Six chicks have hatched this way in Rajasthan and two in Gujarat.
New rewilding aviary at Ramdevra
Yadav and Sharma reviewed the GIB Conservation Breeding Centres at Ramdevra and Sam, opened a new Rewilding Aviary and released a brochure on the bird’s decade-long journey in the landscape. Rajasthan Forest and Environment Minister Sanjay Sharma and senior Union and state officials attended.
The aviary at Ramdevra measures 160 m by 64 m by 14 m. It was built by the Rajasthan Forest Department through the Rajasthan State Road Development and Construction Corporation Ltd (RSRDC), with ₹9.25 crore sanctioned by the Rajasthan government. The large, pillar-less structure gives captive-bred birds open space to build flight muscles, adjust to natural conditions and behave as they would in the wild before release.
What the ministers said
Bhajan Lal Sharma called the rewilding of the state bird a day of pride for the whole of Rajasthan. He said joint work by the Union and state governments had brought the GIB, part of the Thar’s cultural heritage, back from the brink of extinction, and spoke about the state government’s funding for the programme.
Yadav said the Thar region has an emotional and cultural connection with the bird, and credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for the programme’s success. He said the programme could bring local communities economic benefits through eco-tourism. He also spoke of the bird’s importance in grassland conservation, land degradation neutrality and as an important stopover for migratory birds on Central Asian flyways.
About the Bustard Recovery Programme
The programme is a joint effort of the Environment Ministry, the Rajasthan Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), with technical collaboration from the International Fund for Houbara Conservation and funding from National CAMPA. The National Action Plan covers conservation breeding, habitat management, threat mitigation, habitat restoration and community engagement.
The Rajasthan Forest Department has set up about 200 sq km of fenced grassland enclosures inside the Desert National Park, which WII’s long-term telemetry studies show are the prime breeding habitat for the species. Conservation work is being guided by a Supreme Court judgment based on the recommendations of an expert committee.
The effort has also been taken to Gujarat through the jumpstart initiative. Yadav recently reviewed the soft-release and conservation facility at Naliya in Kutch.
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