Edit: There is hope yet for the great Indian bustard

There is hope yet for the great Indian bustard. The government has finally woken up and is planning a programme akin to Project Tiger to rescue the bird from the brink of extinction.

The initiative comes not a day too soon. The large bird, once commonly seen on the subcontinent’s dry plains, is today down to less than 300 in the wild; some say the number could be as low as 250. With some luck, Union Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan will act before these last few specimens also vanish.

But must we wait till the very last moment to initiate action to save our vanishing wildlife? The same thing happened with the tiger in 1973, with the magnificent animal on the verge of extinction, when Project Tiger was launched. The project was a big success, largely because prime minister Indira Gandhi took personal interest in it, and despite the crisis in recent years, the tiger still stands a decent chance of survival in India.

More importantly, why can’t we have a comprehensive plan for our rich flora and fauna? Yes, there is growing pressure on land and natural resources from our ever-growing population, but that is no excuse to let those we share this earth with to die out.

We owe it not just to our tourism industry but also to future generations to at least leave the world as we found it, even if we cannot make it a better place.