India : general information -- Avifauna of India -- Wildlife legislation and policies : a brief account -- Objectives and methods of Indian IBA programme -- Process of IBA identification and selection -- GIS based mapping of the IBAs of India -- Data presentation -- National overview -- Analysis and results -- Some burning issues -- IBAs in different states of India -- Important bird areas : summary of global categories and criteria -- A1 : globally threatened species -- A2 : restricted range species -- A3 : biome restricted assemblage -- A4i : [actual symbol not reproducible] 1% of biogeographic population of waterbirds -- Postscript : vultures decline.