Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav reviewed three flagship wildlife programmes in Gujarat: the Great Indian Bustard conservation effort, grassland restoration initiatives, and Project Cheetah. The GIB is critically endangered with fewer than 150 individuals remaining in the wild, primarily in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The review signals renewed governmental focus on integrating grassland ecosystem recovery with species-specific conservation, linking habitat restoration directly to the survival prospects of India's most threatened bird.

This review brings together three distinct but ecologically linked conservation threads.

**Great Indian Bustard (GIB):** The GIB (Ardeotis nigriceps) is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List — one step from Extinct in the Wild. India holds the last viable wild population, with fewer than 150 birds surviving, mainly in the Desert National Park, Rajasthan, and the Naliya grasslands of Gujarat. The Supreme Court had directed the government to take emergency steps including overhead powerline diversion in GIB habitats to prevent collision deaths, a leading cause of mortality. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is the nodal authority.

**Grassland Restoration:** India's grasslands are among the world's most threatened ecosystems — consistently mis-classified as 'wastelands' in revenue records, making them vulnerable to diversion for agriculture or solar projects. Restoring them is critical not just for GIB but for other grassland-dependent species like the Lesser Florican, Blackbuck, and Indian Wolf.

**Project Cheetah:** Launched in September 2022, Project Cheetah reintroduced African cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh. The cheetah had been declared extinct in India in 1952. Gujarat's review link likely relates to potential secondary habitat identification or expansion planning.

The static concept the examiner tests: IUCN categories, species-habitat linkages, nodal ministry identification, and the legal/policy instruments behind each programme.