Kharmore Sonchidia Award Scheme

What is the Kharmore Sonchidia Award Scheme?

Kharmore Sonchidia Award Scheme is a conservation reward scheme of the Wildlife Wing of the Forest Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh. The scheme pays a cash award to a farmer or private landowner on whose land one of two critically threatened grassland birds is sighted, on the condition that the landowner protects the bird, its eggs and its habitat.

The two birds are:

• Kharmore, the local name for the Lesser Florican (Sypheotides indicus), a small bustard that breeds in the monsoon grasslands of western Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh maintains dedicated Kharmore sanctuaries at Sailana in Ratlam district and Sardarpur in Dhar district.
• Sonchidia, the local name for the Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), one of the most endangered birds in the world, historically found in the Ghatigaon and Karera grasslands of the Gwalior–Shivpuri belt.

Both species depend on open grassland and cropland, not on dense forest. That is the reason a reward scheme aimed at private farmers exists at all: a very large share of the habitat these birds need in Madhya Pradesh sits outside protected area boundaries, on land the Forest Department does not control. If a farmer has an incentive to leave a nesting patch undisturbed instead of grazing or mowing it, the nest survives.

Who is eligible for the Kharmore Sonchidia award?

You can claim the award if:

• You are a farmer or landowner in Madhya Pradesh with private land.
• A Kharmore or a Sonchidia has been sighted on that private land.
• You protect the bird, its eggs and its habitat on your land. This is the condition attached to the award, not an optional extra.
• The sighting can be verified by the Forest Department's staff.

You cannot claim, or are not eligible, if:

• The sighting was on government, forest or common land rather than on your own private holding.
• You cannot produce a land record showing that the land is yours.
• The bird was disturbed, chased, trapped or harmed, or the eggs collected or destroyed. This ends any claim and can attract prosecution under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
• The sighting cannot be verified on the ground by forest staff.
• The species sighted is a different bird. Look-alike confusion is common in grassland, and the award applies only to the Kharmore and the Sonchidia.

How much is the award and how is it paid?

The two-instalment design is deliberate. The larger part of the money is paid on the later sighting, which is only possible if the bird stayed on the land, in other words, if the farmer actually protected it through the season rather than reporting once and then resuming normal use of the plot.

The Kharmore instalment months line up with the bird's breeding cycle. Lesser Floricans arrive with the monsoon and display and nest through the rains, so a July–August sighting marks arrival and a September–October sighting marks a successful season on that patch of land.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Kharmore Sonchidia award

1. Do not approach or disturb the bird. Keep people, dogs and cattle away from the spot, and do not attempt to photograph it from close range. Any disturbance can make the bird abandon the site, which loses both the nest and your award.
2. Note the date, time and exact location of the sighting, the khasra number of the plot, and a landmark that forest staff can find.
3. Make a written appeal to the concerned Divisional Forest Officer or Deputy Director without delay, reporting the sighting. The nearest range office can forward it, but address it to the DFO or Deputy Director.
4. Attach your land record, Aadhaar copy and bank passbook copy, and take a dated receiving acknowledgement for the appeal.
5. Allow the forest staff to verify the sighting on your land, and follow the protection instructions they give you for the nesting patch — usually not mowing, grazing or ploughing it during the breeding season.
6. Report the later sighting too, in September–October for a Kharmore or the second sighting for a Sonchidia, because the larger instalment depends on it.

There is no online application for this scheme, and no fee.

How do I follow up on an award claim?

The scheme has no online tracker. Follow up with:

1. The range office where the appeal was received, to confirm it has been sent to the DFO.
2. The Divisional Forest Officer or Deputy Director, on whether the sighting has been verified and the first instalment sanctioned.
3. The wildlife wing office of the division for the second instalment after the later sighting is reported.

Keep the dated acknowledgement of your written appeal. It is the only proof of when you reported.

What the award scheme is really trying to protect

The Great Indian Bustard is functionally extinct across most of its former Madhya Pradesh range, and the Lesser Florican's numbers have fallen sharply with the loss of monsoon grassland to intensive cropping. Neither bird can be saved inside sanctuary fences alone, because both nest on the ground in open country and move across a landscape of farms.

A farmer who reports a sighting honestly, leaves the nest patch alone for a few weeks and keeps grazing animals off it is doing something no forest guard can do from outside the boundary. The Kharmore Sonchidia Award Scheme is small in rupee terms, Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000, but it is one of the few Madhya Pradesh schemes that pays a private landowner directly for a conservation outcome on his own field.

Help and grievance redressal

• Forest Department, Madhya Pradesh headquarters, Bhopal: 0755-2524000
• Official website: mpforest.gov.in
• Claim authority: the Divisional Forest Officer, or the Deputy Director of the concerned sanctuary or wildlife division
• Local route: the range office or beat guard, who can forward your written appeal

Harming, capturing or selling a Kharmore or a Sonchidia, or collecting its eggs, is an offence under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. Report the sighting; do not handle the bird.