This current-affairs update dated 22 January 2026 is centred on the Bombay Natural History Society's Indian Skimmer conservation project. The project has been launched under the National Mission for Clean Ganga to protect nesting habitats of the Indian Skimmer, Rynchops albicollis, in the Ganga Basin. As recorded in the existing article, it will monitor nesting sites and develop habitat management plans for the species.
The Indian Skimmer is a riverine bird identified by its long lower mandible, which it uses to skim the water surface while catching small aquatic prey. The official National Mission for Clean Ganga page notes that riverine sandbars in the Ganga basin are breeding habitats for several river birds, and that human disturbance, sand mining, livestock movement, predation and sudden water-level fluctuations threaten nesting success. The same official page describes the Indian Skimmer as globally endangered and says that more than 90% of its breeding population occurs in India.
For RAS and UPSC preparation, the issue sits at the intersection of environment, biodiversity, river rejuvenation and government programmes, especially in the environment and ecology section. In prelims, it can appear as an institution-project match, species-habitat question, threat-based question or a Ganga Basin biodiversity fact. In mains, it is useful as an example that river conservation is not limited to water quality; sandy river habitats, local communities, monitoring and site-specific conservation planning also matter. For static GK linkage, read it with threatened birds, river ecology and conservation projects.