- Why in news
- On 6 September 2026, International Vulture Awareness Day was marked at Panchkula, Haryana. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav inaugurated a national workshop and visited the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore.
- What it is
- Vultures are scavenging birds that clean up animal carcasses and help recycle nutrients. India's vulture numbers crashed from the 1990s, mainly because of the veterinary drug diclofenac in cattle carcasses. The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre at Pinjore, Haryana, run by the Haryana Forest Department and BNHS, breeds vultures for release in the wild.
- Event and place
- International Vulture Awareness Day 2026 was celebrated at Panchkula, Haryana, with a national workshop themed 'From Crisis to Recovery'.
- Jatayu Centre, Pinjore
- It is a joint initiative of the Haryana Forest Department and BNHS. It breeds White-rumped, Long-billed and Slender-billed Vultures.
- 2025–26 numbers
- JCBC housed 356 vultures and bred 35 chicks in 2025–26.
- Cause of decline
- The sharp decline since the 1990s was mainly due to a disrupted food chain and painkillers given to animals, which vultures then consumed.
Don’t confuse with Vulture Safe Zone vs protected area: Vulture Safe Zones are landscapes made free of toxic veterinary drugs like diclofenac. They are not legally notified protected areas.
Don’t confuse with Conservation breeding vs reintroduction: Conservation breeding raises birds in captivity. Reintroduction is the later release of those birds into the wild.
Species and protected areas: 12 Prelims questions since 2013; they test legal status, location and the year of designation.
Why it matters
- Vultures clear carcasses and recycle nutrients, so their loss harms ecosystem health and public health.
- The Pinjore programme is an example of captive breeding supporting species recovery in the wild.
Problems
- Toxic veterinary drugs can still enter the food chain through carcasses.
- Vultures breed slowly, so recovery is slow and depends on long, costly captive breeding.
Way forward
- Expand Vulture Safe Zones with vulture-safe veterinary practices and safe carcass management.
- Build technical capacity and involve vets, livestock owners and local communities.
Put in your answer
Whole of Government approach: The Minister called for a 'Whole of Government' and 'Whole of Society' approach to vulture policy.
- 2015Mains GS2 · Q10How to strengthen NGOs' role in environmental protection and their constraints
- 2024Mains GS4 · Q2How to halt human-driven extinction and restore society-environment equilibrium
- 2012Prelims Q100Cause of vulture decline in Indian countryside: cattle drug, invasive species, or disease
UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
Prelims practice · Single answer
Ours, not from a UPSC paper
Consider the following statements about vulture conservation in India:
Which one of the following is correct?
True or false?
1 of 6
Statements the way Prelims prints them. Say first, then see the fact.
1.The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre is located at Pinjore in Haryana.
True. JCBC is at Pinjore, Haryana.
2.The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre is run jointly by the Haryana Forest Department and the Bombay Natural History Society.
True. It is a collaboration of the Haryana Forest Department and BNHS.
3.The Pinjore centre focuses on conservation breeding of the Red-headed, Egyptian and Cinereous Vultures.
False. It focuses on White-rumped, Long-billed and Slender-billed Vultures.
4.The decline of Indian vultures since the 1990s was mainly linked to painkillers used on animals whose carcasses vultures consumed.
True. Veterinary painkillers in carcasses were a main cause.
5.The veterinary use of diclofenac was banned in India in 2006 to protect vultures.
True. The ban on veterinary diclofenac came in 2006.
6.The Egyptian Vulture is a species of the vulture group that is found in India only as a winter migrant.
False. The Egyptian Vulture is present in India as both resident and migratory populations; the release lists India's vultures as resident and migratory.
Written by us from the release, not by UPSC; checked by a second model.
Worth revising until Prelims 2028: most news questions come within two years of the event.