Camel in crisis

Winter is India’s ‘festival’ season. There is the niche Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF) at Jodhpur, the hipster-magnet Pushkar fair and the popular Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF). But early in November, Sadri, a town in Pali district of Rajasthan, hosted a new festival of an unusual nature. It was meant to bring attention to the plight of Rajasthan’s state animal — the camel — and showcase the endangered culture of the Raikas, one of western India’s nomadic pastoral groups that rears and herds camels.

The Marwar Camel Culture Festival, a modest three-day event, featured bazaars to promote camel milk and wool products, evenings livened by Raika and Langa music, visits to a Raika village, discussions on the future of camel rearing, and even included a camel-milking competition.

German veterinarian Ilse Köhler-Rollefson is a member of the Sadri-based Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan (LPPS), which organised the festival. She has lived and worked among the Raikas for the last two decades after coming into contact with them during her research in India. “Although I studied veterinary medicine in Germany, I did not like practising there. I guess I prefer ensuring that animals remain healthy rather than treating sick ones. While working in Jordan and in Sudan, I was exposed to nomadic animal culture and the camel, and loved both. Then I had a research fellowship in India and came across the Raika,” Köhler-Rollefson said.

The veterinarian has since become the face of advocacy aimed at bettering the conditions of Rajasthan’s pastoralists and saving its camel populations from its present crisis. Köhler-Rollefson is also the author of the book Camel Karma, which recounts in detail her time with the Raika.

Excerpts from an interview.

On what led to the festival

The idea originated after seeing last year how the Pushkar Camel Fair has deteriorated over the last 25 years. Very few camel breeders attended the fair last year, and there were even fewer buyers.

The camel breeders were virtually crying because they were not able to sell the animals they had brought — which means that they would not earn anything the entire year. Actually, many of them had not sold any camels for the last three years! This is because the demand for draught camels has almost disappeared and selling camels for meat is controversial and dangerous. So I thought we need to create an alternative event, where the focus is on the camel as a dairy animal. And we need the general public to engage with the issue. The best way of doing that is through culture and music — as is evidenced by the success of the JLF and RIFF. So I thought we need to create a mixture of Pushkar fair, with elements of JLF and RIFF.

On how things have changed for the Raika community in the last two decades that she has worked with them

There has been a total change in the last 20 years. The camel culture is only a shadow of its former self because no income is to be made and therefore no young people enter the traditional profession. Instead, they take up menial jobs in cities.

The traditional knowledge (of the Raikas) — which is essential for rearing camels — is no longer transferred from one generation to the next. It is disappearing in front of our eyes.

I own about 25 camels and it is almost impossible to find somebody to herd and look after them.

On how government policies have contributed to this decline

The camel was totally ignored by policymakers until it was declared the state animal. The idea of a ‘state animal’ is great, but futile unless coupled with supportive measures, such as subsidising and creating an enabling environment for the development of camel product lines, and marking out grazing areas. The law that was passed by the Legislative Assembly [The Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Bill, 2015] — but has not been signed by the President of India — has made the situation much worse, as it prohibits taking camels out of Rajasthan. It also prohibits castration of camels and the use of nose pegs, which makes it impossible to manage male camels in the rutting season.

On her work with the LPPS

In Sadri, we currently focus on developing products from living camels. We make camel poo paper and process camel wool. We ship frozen camel milk to customers throughout the country. Lately, we are experimenting with camel cheese and have created some extraordinary varieties with the support of a Danish company and Danish cheesemaker; but these are not quite ready to be marketed, except in our Camel Café, where one can also drink camelccino and camel chai.

Nandini Thilak is a former journalist who is now based in Jodhpur

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