a central Empowered Committee- appointed expert panel has suggested reducing the size of the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in Maharashtra to 122,200 hectares (ha). But the state government wants to reduce it further, to 35,000 ha. The sanctuary, a prime habitat of the Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), is spread over 850,000 ha across Ahmednagar and Solapur districts. A few years