Ch2: Grasslands

UPSC GS3 — Critically Endangered Species and Conservation-Development Conflict:

The Great Indian Bustard (GIB) (Ardeotis nigriceps) is India's most endangered large bird. Population: approximately 150 wild individuals (2024 estimates; ~34 additional in captive breeding centres in Rajasthan), making it critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.

State Bird of Rajasthan. Primary habitat: Desert National Park, Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) and grasslands of Gujarat.

Threats:

1. Power line collision: GIB has poor frontal vision and cannot see overhead power lines; estimates suggest 15 birds die annually from collisions. This is the single biggest immediate threat.
2. Habitat loss: Rajasthan's grasslands are being converted to solar and wind energy farms — a direct conflict between renewable energy targets and species survival.
3. Historical hunting: GIB was hunted extensively pre-independence; hunting is now banned under Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 (highest protection level).
4. Agricultural expansion: Unirrigated grasslands converted to fields, especially after canal irrigation reached Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal).

Supreme Court order (2021): Directed overhead power lines in GIB habitat areas in Rajasthan and Gujarat to be placed underground. Renewable energy companies challenged this, arguing it would cost thousands of crores and delay solar projects. The Court set up a committee. This case perfectly illustrates the conservation vs development conflict — India's renewable energy needs vs its biodiversity commitments.

Conservation measures: National Action Plan for Great Indian Bustard; captive breeding programme (CCMB, Hyderabad); field surveillance; community involvement through local grassland committees.

UPSC GS1 — Pastoralism, PESA, and Tribal Rights:

India's pastoral communities — Van Gujjars, Gaddis, Bakarwals, Maldharis, Dhangars — face three converging threats:

1. Forest laws: Many traditional grazing routes and seasonal pastures have been declared Protected Areas or Reserved Forests, criminalising pastoral movement. Van Gujjars were evicted from Rajaji National Park (Uttarakhand) in the 1990s in a controversial decision.

2. Agricultural encroachment: Farmers have encroached on traditional pastoral commons (gauchars in Gujarat; oran in Rajasthan).

3. Climate change: Irregular monsoons reduce grass availability; alpine snowlines retreating → reduced summer pastures for Gaddis and Bakarwals.

PESA Act 1996 (Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas): Gives tribal gram sabhas power over natural resources including forest produce, minor minerals, and community grazing lands in Schedule V areas. Pastoral communities can use PESA to claim control over traditional grazing commons — but implementation is weak across states.

Forest Rights Act 2006: Recognises community forest rights including grazing rights (nistar rights) for communities who have traditionally used forest land. Critical for Van Gujjars, Bakarwals, and other pastoral forest-dwellers.

[Additional] GIB vs Renewable Energy — Supreme Court's Landmark Orders (GS3 — Biodiversity / Environment / GS2 — Judiciary):

The core conflict: Rajasthan and Gujarat account for the majority of India's solar and wind energy capacity — exactly the Great Indian Bustard's last remaining habitat. Thousands of kilometres of overhead transmission lines carrying electricity from solar/wind parks to cities cross the GIB's flight paths. Birds flying into these lines and being electrocuted or killed by collision is now the primary threat to the remaining ~100-150 GIBs.

April 2021 Supreme Court Order (M.K. Ranjitsinh v. Union of India):

• Directed undergrounding of all overhead power lines across ~99,000 sq km of identified GIB habitat in Rajasthan and Gujarat within one year
• Government sought modification: argued undergrounding of high-voltage lines (400 kV) is technically not feasible; undergrounding 400 kV EHV lines costs ~Rs. 10-12 crore/km vs ~Rs. 2 crore/km overground; would require shutting down energy supply for hundreds of towns; renewable energy sector investment would collapse in the region

March 21, 2024 Modified Supreme Court Order:

• SC accepted partial undergrounding + rerouting as practical compromise:
  • Priority areas restricted to ~13,163 sq km (later revised to 14,013 sq km in Rajasthan + 740 sq km in Gujarat by expert committee)
  • Underground: 80 km of critical 33 kV lines in Rajasthan; 79 km in Gujarat
  • Reroute: 66 kV lines away from GIB core areas
  • Ban on new wind turbines or solar parks above 2 MW capacity in revised priority areas
  • A dedicated power corridor up to 5 km wide south of Desert National Park for future energy evacuation routing

Captive breeding programme:

• Rajasthan Forest Department started captive breeding in 2019 at Desert National Park
• Hatched 60+ chicks in captivity by 2024
• 2024 breakthrough: A GIB chick hatched via artificial insemination using sperm collected from a male 200 km away — first time this reproductive technology used for GIB; critical for genetic diversity of the tiny population

Why GIB is the UPSC test case for "biodiversity vs development": The GIB case puts two constitutional values in direct conflict:

• Article 21 (Right to Life) → includes right to environment (Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar 1991)
• Directive Principles: Article 48A (environment protection) vs Article 39(b)/(c) (equitable distribution of resources; development)
• India's NDC commitments (500 GW renewable by 2030) vs its international biodiversity commitments (KMGBF 30×30 target)

UPSC synthesis: GIB is a recurring UPSC Prelims + Mains topic. Key exam facts: Critically Endangered; State Bird of Rajasthan; ~100-150 individuals (2024-25); April 2021 SC order = underground all OHE lines in 99,000 sq km; March 2024 modified order = undergrounding only priority 14,013 sq km in Rajasthan; ban on new wind/solar >2 MW in priority areas; captive breeding = 60+ chicks; 2024 = AI chick (first); power lines + electrocution = primary mortality cause; habitat = Desert National Park, Jaisalmer/Barmer.

[Additional] Grassland Governance Crisis and Pastoral Communities' Rights (GS3 — Environment / GS2 — Governance / Social Justice):

Scale of India's grasslands:

• India's grasslands and open natural ecosystems: ~788,943 sq km (~24% of total land area)
• Types: Terai grasslands (Indo-Gangetic plains), Deccan Plateau grasslands, Thar Desert, alpine meadows (Bugyals), Banni and Rann of Kutch, shola-grassland mosaics (Western Ghats)
• ~75% of India's grasslands are outside Protected Areas — completely unprotected by any law

The legislative gap:

• Planning Commission Task Force on Grasslands and Deserts (2006) identified the absence of a national grassland policy as a critical gap — 20 years later, no dedicated legislation has been enacted
• India's National Forest Policy 1988 mentions grasslands but provides no binding protection
• India's NDC (2022 and 2026) targets 3.5-4 billion tonnes CO₂-eq carbon sink — but grassland carbon sequestration in soils is NOT counted in India's carbon accounting (only forest carbon is counted)
• A 2023 Restoration Ecology journal paper described India's grassland situation as a "governance crisis"

Specific threat: Afforestation in grasslands:

• Government and NGO "green India" plantation drives often plant trees in grasslands (faster to plant than to restore natural forest)
• Trees planted in natural grasslands: (1) destroy the grassland habitat; (2) reduce biodiversity (grassland species disappear); (3) actually reduce soil carbon in some grassland types; (4) reduce water runoff to rivers (grasslands harvest and transmit rain to groundwater; forests intercept more)
• Examples: In the Western Ghats, 23% of montane shola grasslands converted to eucalyptus/acacia/pine plantations over 44 years — GIB, Nilgiri Tahr, and Blackbuck populations collapsed in these converted areas

Banni Grasslands and Maldhari community rights:

• Banni Grasslands (Kutch, Gujarat): ~2,500 sq km; managed by the Maldhari pastoral community for centuries
• Maldhari have maintained the grassland's health by sustainable rotational grazing — their buffalo herds are part of the ecosystem
• Despite being the traditional managers, Maldhari have faced:
  • Encroachment pressure from outsiders
  • Invasion by Prosopis juliflora (an exotic thorny weed from Mexico, planted in the 1960s for "greening") — now covers 60%+ of Banni, outcompeting native grass
  • Banni being considered for cheetah reintroduction (which would restrict traditional grazing routes)
• Forest Rights Act 2006: Maldhari community forest rights (Section 3) were upheld by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) — but implementation is slow and contested

Mongolian Dzud 2023-24 — pastoral nomads and climate change:

• Dzud = a Mongolian disaster type where a dry summer (reduced grass growth) is followed by an extreme winter — livestock cannot find food under ice/snow and die of starvation in millions
• 2023-24 dzud was Mongolia's harshest in 49 years:
  • 7.1 million livestock died by June 2024 (cattle, sheep, goats, camels, horses)
  • ~90% of Mongolia's territory snow-covered at peak (January 2024)
  • 300,000 nomadic herders depend on livestock for food and income; 7,000+ families lost food access
  • Economic damage: $1.5–1.9 billion USD
• Climate connection: Mongolia has warmed 2.46°C over 80 years (far above global average of 1.2°C); 6 dzuds in the last 10 years (historically rare); longer, hotter dry summers deplete grass; more intense winters follow

UPSC synthesis: Grassland governance gap is GS3 environment + GS2 governance. Key exam facts: India has no dedicated Grassland Protection Act; 788,943 sq km of grassland (~24% land area); 70% overlap with "wasteland" classification; Planning Commission 2006 Task Force recommended national policy — still not enacted; afforestation in grasslands is a false solution (destroys habitat, may reduce water); Banni Grasslands = Kutch Gujarat, 2,500 sq km, Maldhari community, Prosopis juliflora invasion; FRA 2006 Section 3 rights upheld by NGT; Mongolia dzud 2023-24 = 7.1M livestock dead, harshest in 49 years, 2.46°C warming over 80 years.