The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), working with the Rajasthan Forest Department, has released the first status report on the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) in seven years, since the previous assessment in 2017-18. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav released the report, which found that the GIB population has remained stable since 2017, estimated at 130 birds within a range of 110-150 (+/- 21). Despite this stability, the report flagged that the critically endangered bird survives in only 16% of the surveyed landscape at any given time, even though a larger area of suitable habitat exists. The assessment covered the GIB range in Rajasthan's Thar desert, and not Gujarat, where only a few females survive in the wild. During the 2024-25 surveys, researchers recorded 35 GIB flocks, 1,568 chinkara herds and 79 desert foxes. The bird is largely found in flat grasslands in and around the Desert National Park and the Pokhran Range in Jaisalmer district. The GIB faces serious threats from collisions with power transmission lines evacuating solar and wind power, since it has poor frontal vision and cannot manoeuvre around them. Habitat fragmentation from power lines, agricultural fencing, roads, water sources and solar plants has also intensified. In December, the Supreme Court ordered protection of a priority GIB area, dedicated power line corridors, and the burying of power lines in specific stretches. Project GIB, run through the Centre, the Rajasthan Government and international cooperation, supports habitat improvement, egg protection, predator management and mitigation of power-line impacts. Captive breeding centres at Sam and Ramdevra in Jaisalmer district raise GIB eggs collected from the wild for future release.