Rajasthan’s Desert Communities Are Saving Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard From the Edge of Extinction — Here’s How

This article is in partnership with Diageo India

Rounds of mithaimake their way through an excited gathering in Jaisalmer’s Salkha village; the air is thick with celebration, the kind that usually follows the arrival of a newborn. Well, there has been a birth in the village, not a baby, but a creature the residents cherish just as much. It is the Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard. 

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“The bird is like one of our own; an egg hatching and a chick being added to its population is as good a reason to celebrate as any,” insists Kedar Shrimal, the president of the Gramodaya Samajik Sansthan, a Rajasthan-based NGO that, since 2022, has dedicated its efforts to the conservation of the ‘critically endangered’ Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard. Any uptick in its numbers sends ripples of happiness across the teams involved in the bird’s conservation: the locals, the Forest Department, the Wildlife Institute of India, and Diageo India. 

But even as statistics mirror the success of the conservation efforts  — a swell in the bird’s population from 96 (when the project was started in 2022) to 173 (the latest 2025 tally) — also noteworthy is the mindset shift emerging within the communities, Kishan Singh, sarpanchof Salkha village, Jaisalmer, points out. “Earlier, there wasn’t too much awareness about the Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard, despite it being our state bird,” he says. He attributes the growing ecological literacy around the bird to the conservation programme, which mobilises youth volunteers to blow the whistle on hunting and poaching, and includes awareness sessions across schools. 

But there’s miles to go, he admits. 

Protecting the home of the Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard 

Fun fact: In 1963, Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard, was a strong contender for the title of India’s national bird, but the peafowl (Pavo cristatus) claimed the distinction because no one wanted to run the risk of the Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard, being misspelt. If not for that, the black crowned bird, with its black, brown, and grey flecked wings, would have secured the title, something ornithologist Salim Ali tried hard to make happen. 

His argument was cogent: the criterion for choosing a national bird was to “focus interest and solicitude on a particular species of bird in each country that stood in need of cooperative protection from the public to save it from extinction”, and the Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard, whose numbers were on the decline in the latter half of the 19th century — the bird’s population saw a 88 percent dip from 1260 in 1969 to around 150 in 2021 — was a more suited candidate according to Ali. 

Cognisant of its dipping numbers, India and the globe had given the bird every form of protection under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, in the CMS (Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals) Convention, in Appendix I of CITES, and the National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016), which outlawed its hunting and poaching. But this didn’t suffice; in the 21st century, the bird had to brave the throes of industrialisation, high-tension power lines that dominate the skyline, stray dog attacks, and unconducive nesting conditions, as grasslands turned into unproductive wastelands. 

And the solution, according to a Wildlife Institute of India report, which highlighted the National Guidelines for Bustard Recovery Plans developed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, lay in creating inviolate breeding areas to boost conservation of the species. 

So we turn our gaze to Rajasthan’s Thar Desert, home to 75 percent of the birds’ global population, which is concentrated in a part of the desert spread across 3162 sq km (notified as the Desert National Park Sanctuary in 1980). 

And that’s where this unique conservation programme is taking shape, attempting to protect the bird from various modern challenges. One of the most crucial is high-tension power lines.   

Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard, is one of the heaviest flying birds (an adult male ranges from 15-18 kg); its large size makes it difficult to change direction mid-flight, a significant challenge when it comes into contact with high-tension lines. The problem is compounded by the birds’ poor frontal vision, making it difficult for them to spot power lines until they fly too close to them. They eventually end up colliding and dying. 

This echoes the fate of many of its population. 

While Kedar insists, “As soon as we get the news that the bird has had an accident with an electric wire, our vehicle rushes to the site with medical aid”, he believes prevention is always better than cure. “So, the conservation programme is focused on making the birds comfortable in their present habitat so that they don’t need to fly to another location. Our endeavor is to provide sufficient food and water.” Overall efforts include encouraging beetle cultivation (a food source for the birds), planting native sewan grass, which forms a crucial part of the birds’ diet and nesting, and creating customised sprinklers from which the birds can drink. 

Safe nesting, predator management, and safe habitat creation  

“The moment we hear from the teams on the ground that a GIB (Great Indian Bustard) egg is spotted, we coordinate with the Wildlife Institute of India to safely collect the egg from the site and transport it to the hatchery, where the egg is monitored in real-time and provided with conducive conditions to hatch. Once hatched, the chicks’ diet is strictly monitored,” Kedar shares. 

When the conservation programme was initiated in 2022, Navdeep Singh Mehram, Vice President, CSR and Sustainability at Diageo India, says the team noticed that eggs, while being transported from the grasslands where they were laid to the artificial incubation centre set up by the Wildlife Institute of India, were often disturbed due to turbulence during transit along the sand dunes. “So we suggested supporting the conservation centre with a private emergency response vehicle with a better suspension system, such that even despite the turbulence, the egg wouldn’t be disturbed,” Navdeep explains. 

Another challenge is the population of wild dogs in the region. In 2016, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) had taken cognisance of the problem. Since 2022, through Diageo India’s intervention, more than 400  dogs have been sterilised by WII teams, a relief for the bird and the farmers who often lost their goats and sheep to wild dog attacks. A deep empathy for the community is entwined into Diageo India’s ‘Grain to Glass' sustainability efforts.  

Navdeep adds, “Diageo's efforts extend to Alwar, Rajasthan, towards the revival of the Ruparail River, which provides the community with year-round access to water; improving access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities through the construction of more than 180 household toilets across the villages of Salpur, Mahuwa Khurd, Poonkhar, and Goondpur.”

To further help the locals and in a bid to minimise conflict between the birds and the community (previously caused by birds feeding on the farmers’ grasslands), they are working with local panchayats(village governing bodies) to develop their own grasslands, which don’t intrude into the Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard’s nesting sites.  

As part of their broader conservation strategy, fenced predator-free zones have been created across an undulating 200 acres (the land was donated by the Bishnoi community), where native sewan grass has been planted. 

Tracing Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard’s umbilical links with the Bishnois 

At dawn, an amusing sight plays out at the oases across Rajasthan’s villages. You’ll spot the Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard, having its fill of water. As dawn turns to morning, the next set of animals head to the pond, right on schedule. Later in the day, the Bishnoi community will arrive here. This shared roster between animals and the community underscores their umbilical links and one’s trust in the other. 

And, it’s the community’s wholehearted engagement and participation that’s made the conservation programme a success, Navdeep reasons. The relationship is transactional; the Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard, preys on rodents, snakes, and other pests, thus forming an integral part of the ecological jigsaw. 

And the community is well aware of its significance. 

Proof lies in their panchayatsessions. “We discuss the Godawan in everygram sabha meeting,” he shares. From panchayatsto the ramps, Godawan, the Great India Bustard is stirring conversation. Earlier this year, actor Sonam Kapoor’s outfit at the London Fashion Week featured Godawan, the Great Indian Bustard, a moment that celebrated Indian craftsmanship, while drawing attention to India’s most iconic species. 

But even as the global conversation around the bird’s conservation unfolds, miles away from the ramps, in the quiet villages of Rajasthan, the most awaited sound is still the crack of an egg in the hatchery. It’s music to the locals’ ears. It indicates a child is born. 

Sources 

'Project Great Indian Bustard': Published by Government of Rajasthan, Forest Department.

'The great Indian bustard stands on the brink of extinction': by Mayank Aggarwal, Published on 11 May 2018.

IUCN SSC Bustard Specialist Group 2021 Report

'Great Indian Bustard': by Wildlife Institute of India, Published in 2020. 

'The Great Indian Bustard’s last sigh': by Nitin Sreedhar, Published on 15 September 2018. 

'Great Indian Bustard: India's most threatened avian species - Key perils and Conservation measures': Published in The Science World in May 2024. 

'CMS COP13 concludes in India with major new actions for migratory species': Published in United Nations Environment Programme on 24 February 2020. 

'WII Report: Status of Great Indian Bustard and Associated Wildlife in the Thar Desert Landscape': Published in Conservation India on 4 April 2016. 

Great Indian Bustard.

'In historic first, great Indian bustard chick born through artificial insemination in Rajasthan': by Rajesh Asnani, Published on 23 October 2024.