Great Indian Bustard (GIB)
Context: Under Project GIB, three Great Indian Bustard chicks have been successfully hatched, taking the captive breeding population to 94 birds.
About the Great Indian Bustard (GIB)
- The Great Indian Bustard is a terrestrial bird that inhabits grasslands, scrublands, and semi-arid ecosystems.
- It is native to the Indian subcontinent and is presently found mainly in Rajasthan, with remnant populations in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.
- The Desert National Park in Rajasthan, extending across the Jaisalmer and Barmer districts and containing several human settlements, constitutes one of the species’ most important natural habitats.
- It is among the world’s heaviest flying birds and has an omnivorous diet consisting of grass seeds, insects, small reptiles, and rodents.
- The species faces severe threats from loss and fragmentation of habitat, infrastructure expansion, and fatal collisions with overhead transmission lines.
Conservation Status
- IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered
- Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Listed under Schedule I
- CITES: Included in Appendix I
- Conservation Programme: Protected under the Species Recovery Programme of the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH) Scheme.
- State Symbol: It is the State Bird of Rajasthan and is popularly known as “Godawan” in the region.
‘Kavach’
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- Context: The Ministry of Railways has approved the ‘Kavach’ scheme, valued at ₹341 crore, for the Northern and Western Railway zones.
- ‘Kavach’ is an automatic train protection system developed indigenously by Indian Railways.
- It prevents accidents by performing functions such as preventing head-on collisions between trains, automatically halting the train if a driver passes a signal due to inattention, and providing warnings during foggy conditions.
- The train’s speed is continuously monitored, and it is regulated whenever it exceeds the prescribed limit.
About Kavach System
- Kavach is an indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system developed to improve the safety of railway operations.
- It has been developed by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) of Indian Railways.
- Kavach is an advanced digital safety network comprising five key interconnected components, including continuous Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) along railway tracks and telecom towers to ensure seamless communication.
- The system employs a mix of electronic equipment and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices installed on locomotives, signalling infrastructure, and tracks, which communicate through ultra-high-frequency radio signals.
- Using predefined safety algorithms, Kavach can warn locomotive pilots, initiate automatic braking, and avert dangerous train movements.
- Extensive field testing on passenger trains has been underway since 2016, ahead of its wider implementation across the railway network.
