Flight Risk: India's Illegal Bird Trade
Also this week, how climate change threatens yield, production of India's pulses, and the state of maternal health in Madhya Pradesh
In IndiaSpend this week, we present three investigative reports exploring illegal bird trafficking in open markets despite wildlife protection laws, the devastating impact of climate change on pulse crops threatening both farmer livelihoods and national food security, and Madhya Pradesh's failing maternal healthcare system, where negligence and poor infrastructure endanger women during childbirth.
India's bird markets serve as hubs for illegal wildlife trafficking despite existing protection laws, an IndiaSpend investigation reveals. Markets in Delhi, Patna, and Lucknow openly sell protected native and exotic species in violation of both the Wildlife Protection Act and animal welfare regulations.
These cramped, unsanitary markets house endangered birds like parakeets, munias, and even rare species like Slender Lorises, typically sold under the guise of legitimate pet shops. Despite occasional raids by authorities, the trade continues to flourish with minimal consequences—wildlife crime conviction rates remain at just 2%.
The illegal trade is attractive due to substantial profits, with young sellers earning Rs 50-60,000 monthly. Experts attribute the persistence to poor law enforcement, inadequate punishment, and lack of alternative livelihoods for traders.
Conservation professionals emphasize that smuggled birds face mortality rates up to 90% during transport, highlighting the severe ecological impact of this widespread trade connected to international wildlife trafficking networks. Varsha Singh investigates.
India's pulse crops face mounting threats from climate change, as farmers like J. Venkat Narayana and Maddam Adhilakshmi experience firsthand the impacts of irregular rainfall and unseasonable heat on their harvests.
As the world's largest pulse producer (25% of global output), India relies on these protein-rich crops for nutritional security, particularly in rural communities. However, climate disruptions are causing lower yields and quality deterioration, with 87% of pulse cultivation dependent on increasingly unpredictable rainfall patterns.
This vulnerability has increased India's dependence on imports, with NITI Aayog projecting continued shortages through 2032-33. Unlike rice and wheat, pulses lack consistent procurement systems, creating a price volatility that further discourages cultivation.
Adaptation efforts include water management innovations showing 31% yield improvements, development of climate-smart varieties, and policy initiatives like the National Food Security Mission. Experts recommend dedicating 30-40% of farmland to pulses to enhance soil fertility while providing sustainable protein sources.
Despite challenges, pulses' natural resilience to climate fluctuations makes them critical for future food security. Kavitha Yarlagadda's ground report goes into detail.
In IndiaSpend's Hindi edition, the focus is on the maternal healthcare system of Madhya Pradesh, which faces severe challenges despite government claims of development, as highlighted by recent incidents of negligence and poor infrastructure. In Ratlam district, a pregnant woman who was twice refused admission at a community health center ended up delivering on a handcart, resulting in the baby's death. Similar incidents occurred in Sidhi district, where a woman delivered outside a hospital after being denied admission.
A CAG report reveals that MP's maternal mortality rate (MMR) has decreased by only 24.78% between 2012-2020 (from 230 to 173), while India averaged a 45.51% reduction nationally.
Government hospitals like Bhopal's Sultania face criticism for undignified patient treatment, overcrowding, and staff negligence, while private facilities exploit patients through improper Ayushman Bharat scheme implementation. Basic facilities like sonography machines are inadequate, with waiting periods extending to months.
Healthcare workers highlight urgent issues including staff shortages (1-61% shortage in district hospitals), poor awareness among patients, nutritional deficiencies, and outdated healthcare standards. Experts recommend improving infrastructure, staff accountability, and training to address the worsening maternal healthcare crisis. Huneza Khan reports.
This investigation into India’s bird markets is not just timely—it’s part of a far broader pattern of what I’ve come to call eco-trafficking ecosystems: informal economies sustained by institutional apathy, state complicity, and transnational criminal logistics. Having recently returned from fieldwork in Zimbabwe for Hangar 51 Files, where we examined anti-poaching operations and the mechanics of rhino horn smuggling, the parallels are striking. These are not isolated crimes—they are structural fractures in global enforcement.
In both contexts, we see a triad at play:
Market demand (local + international): Whether it’s exotic birds in Patna or lion bones in Lusaka, there’s always a downstream buyer—often shielded by luxury, distance, and legal grey zones.
Economic desperation: The young men earning Rs 60,000/month mirror the informal trackers in Hwange who are paid to tip off poachers. When enforcement is weak and legitimate work is scarce, conservation becomes collateral.
State neglect and complicity: The 2% conviction rate in India is not just inefficiency—it’s a signal. In Zimbabwe, even military-linked units were found implicated in covering up poaching rings. The line between poacher and protector blurs alarmingly fast.
We’re not dealing with rogue actors—we’re witnessing an informal shadow economy that thrives wherever the formal one fails.
But there’s another layer: narrative capture. Wildlife crime is often framed as isolated illegality—bad traders, bad poachers. In reality, it’s geopolitical. As with the bird markets, many of these trafficking routes run parallel to those used for other forms of illicit trade: drugs, arms, even human smuggling. They use the same ports, the same networks, and exploit the same weak links in customs and corruption.
From what we observed on the ground in Zimbabwe, anti-poaching isn’t just about stopping the man with a rifle. It’s about intercepting WhatsApp messages, disrupting financial flows, and rebuilding trust between frontline conservationists and local communities. The moment trust dies, the poachers are already winning.
The mortality rate of trafficked birds (90%) is a moral catastrophe. But it's also a signal of how inefficiently cruel these networks are. When profit is based on scale and death, there’s no incentive to reform—only to expand and obfuscate.
So here’s the question: Why aren’t these markets national security concerns? If wildlife crime funds organised crime, undermines biodiversity, and corrodes the rule of law, shouldn’t we treat it with the same urgency we reserve for counterterrorism or cybercrime?
The postwar mafia-intelligence alliances documented across Europe and Latin America during the Cold War—as we’ve explored in other Hangar 51 Files reports—show that informal power thrives in shadows. If we don’t approach illegal poaching and trafficking with the same forensic attention, we’re not just losing species—we’re losing sovereignty.
India’s bird markets are more than just sad corners of neglect. They’re warning signs.
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Investigating the frontlines of trafficking, shadow economies, and the secrets that shape our world.