Taking serious note of the alarming extinction of two Indian birds, Great Indian Bustard and the Lesser Florican, the Supreme Court has constituted a high powered committee to urgently frame and implement an emergency response plan for the protection of these species.
The court also sought responses from the Centre and state governments, where these two species of birds are prominently found, on a plea of wildlife activists.
The plea has contended that over the last 50 years the population of the Great Indian Bustard has recorded a decline of over 82 per cent. It said the population of the Lesser Florican has seen a sharp decline of 80 per cent over the past few decades.
The plea blamed various reasons for the threats faced by the two endangered birds including mortality by collision with infrastructure, particularly powerlines and wind turbines, depletion of grasslands and hunting.
