Jaisalmer, April 26 (IANS) In his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address to the people of the country on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the conservation efforts of Rajasthan’s endangered state bird — Great Indian Bustard, which has faced severe threats from habitat loss and power line collisions.

During the 133rd episode of the monthly radio programme, the Prime Minister said that the Great Indian Bustard was once the identity of our desert areas, but at one time its numbers had reduced drastically and this bird had reached the verge of extinction.

He added that now a large scale campaign is being run for the conservation of the endangered bird from Rajasthan.

“Scientific methods are being adopted, breeding centres have been established and signs of rehabilitation of the Great Indian Bustard are also visible,” the Prime Minister noted.

Prime Minister Modi said that nature and humans are not separatable but instead complement each other.

“When we understand nature, respect it and live in harmony with it, positive change is clearly visible.”

Jaisalmer Desert National Park District Forest Officer, Brijmohan Gupta, said that the joint efforts of the Central and state governments as well as the Wildlife Institute of India and the Forest Department have yielded encouraging results in the conservation of Great Indian Bustard.

He said that ‘Artificial Insemination’ technology has proved to be a major achievement in this direction.

The DFO added that it is a matter of pride and happiness for us that these efforts are mentioned and appreciated by Prime Minister Modi in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address.

He told that the decreasing number of Great Indian Bustard had become a matter of serious concern in the year 2018, but due to scientific efforts now its number is continuously increasing.

He said that a total of 25 new Great Indian Bustard chicks were born in the year 2025, while in the initial months of the year 2026, so far 14 chicks have been born successfully.

Of these, four Great Indian Bustard chicks were born naturally and 10 were born through Artificial Intelligence technology.

At present, the total number of Great Indian Bustard, including both the breeding centres in Jaisalmer, has reached 82, of which 58 are present in Ramdevra Conservation Breeding Centre and 24 are present in Sam Conservation Breeding Centre.

–IANS

asd/abm/khz