After a decade in safekeeping, India's great bustards walk home to the Thar

The great Indian bustard — Rajasthan's state bird, down to a whisper of a wild population — is going home. The rewilding of captive-bred birds begins this weekend at Sam in the Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, after a decade-long breeding and conservation programme. Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav toured the Ramdevra breeding facility on Saturday and praised the young researchers who pursued the project 'with passion for years.' And in Jaisalmer, schoolchildren held art competitions to mark the moment — one beautiful rangoli of the bird, and a simple message: may the bustard thrive again in the landscape it calls home.