How many Great Indian Bustards are presently housed at the Sam and Ramdevra facilities?

The correct answer is Sam, in the Desert National Park of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, freed two male Great Indian Bustards at that spot, with the Rajasthan Minister for Forest and Environment, Sanjay Sharma, and senior officers of the Union and State governments present. Tal Chhapar Sanctuary in Churu is wrong, because the release took place inside the Desert National Park and the announcement names no other protected area in Rajasthan for it. Ramdevra is wrong as a release site: along with Sam it houses the conservation-breeding facilities that between them hold the captive birds, and the two males were let out into open desert rather than kept at a centre. The Kachchh Bustard Sanctuary in Gujarat is wrong as well; Gujarat enters this story only through the jumpstart trial, in which two chicks hatched from captive-laid eggs placed in wild nests.

The correct answer is the Wildlife Institute of India. The Bustard Recovery Programme is a joint effort of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Rajasthan Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India, with technical collaboration from the International Fund for Houbara Conservation and funding from National CAMPA. The Wildlife Institute of India also carries out the long-running telemetry work that identified the fenced grassland enclosures, covering roughly 200 sq km inside the Desert National Park, as the finest breeding habitat available to the species. The Botanical Survey of India is wrong because its work lies with plants, not with a bird recovery effort. The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education is wrong as it is not named among the partners of this programme. The National Biodiversity Authority is wrong for the same reason, and it has no role in the breeding and rewilding steps described here.

The correct answer is the Wildlife Institute of India. The recovery programme is a joint effort of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Rajasthan Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India, with technical collaboration from the International Fund for Houbara Conservation and funding support from National CAMPA. Scientists of the institute advised on the design of the Rewilding Aviary at Ramdevra and their long-term telemetry studies established which grasslands inside Desert National Park serve as prime breeding habitat. The Zoological Survey of India in option B and the Botanical Survey of India in option C are survey organisations for animal and plant taxonomy and are not named as partners here. The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education in option D works on forestry research and likewise has no stated role in this programme.

The correct answer is Desert National Park, Jaisalmer. The two captive-bred birds were moved from a soft-release facility at this park in the Thar desert, with the Union Environment Minister present at the site and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan joining by video conference during Wildlife Week 2026. The park also holds the fenced grassland enclosures, of about 200 sq km, that telemetry studies identify as the prime breeding habitat of the species. Ranthambore in option A and Sariska in option C are tiger reserves in eastern Rajasthan and have no role in the bustard recovery work described; they lie outside the desert grassland the bird needs. Keoladeo National Park in option D is the wetland at Bharatpur known for migratory waterbirds, not for bustards. The conservation breeding centres connected with the release are at Sam and Ramdevra, both in the Jaisalmer landscape, and the new Rewilding Aviary was opened at Ramdevra.

The correct answer is Rajasthan. The bird is the State bird of Rajasthan, and the Chief Minister called the day of its rewilding a day of pride for the whole State, noting that the species is part of the cultural heritage of the Thar and has been brought back from the brink of extinction. The breeding centres at Sam and Ramdevra, the new Rewilding Aviary and the release site at Desert National Park are all in Rajasthan, and the State government sanctioned the aviary's budget and funds the conservation programme. Gujarat in option A is wrong as a State-bird answer, although the species does occur there and a jumpstart effort has begun at the Naliya facility in Kutch, where two chicks were hatched in wild nests. Madhya Pradesh in option B and Haryana in option D have no part in the programme described in the release.