Friday, September 16, 2016

Learning from ‘cultures’ of pastoralism for sustainable development in Thar



The Indian Thar is a hot desert and ranks among the few deserts of the world that have had a long and populous human history of settlement. This sustained human settlement has been made possible by unique attributes of the complex of eco systems and their natural endowments that make the natural setting of Thar. Equally ingenious and resilient have been life practices of different communities, mobile and sedentary, who have displayed remarkable forbearance and endurance in populating the region. Different varieties of pastoralism practiced by semi nomadic communities complemented with subsistence oriented rainfed farming have been core elements in constituting, settling and sustaining human history of this region.

The changes over the past few decades beckon us to understand experiences of modern transformation of pastoral Thar especially since the last quarter of the 20th century with the coming of IGNP in north-west Thar. Ideologically propped up by Jawaharlal Nehru as the 'kingpin' of State planning for developing the desert, the IGNP was started with generous loans from the World Bank and a favourable policy framework enabled by the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 between Indian and Pakistan under the watchful gaze of the World Bank. The main components are the 445 km long lined canal running parallel to the Indo-Pak  border, nine branches, seven lift schemes and twenty-one direct distributaries apart from 8187 km. of minor canal network. The state claims to have opened more than ten lakh hectares of area for irrigation and provide drinking water to more than 3500 towns and villages. IGNP is a gigantic settlement and irrigation project that is supposed to benefit more than 2 million people. So far so good!

Most of development strategies and precepts that have informed the making of ‘modern development’ in Thar region argue that pastoralism as a resource use system must / should / would be done away with, transformed into sedentary husbandry integrated with dairy industry and in a subsidiary position to the meta- narrative on agro industrial farming. It could be said that this development thinking is rooted in perspectives on maximizing private economic profit derived from irrigated farming as the prescribed dominant land use system. Surplus gained from this agricultural enterprise, it is argued, would then feed the diversification into non-farm enterprises and to the making of agro industrial complexes. The dominant assumptions of this economic thinking against pastoralism influenced formulation of apathetic development policy and tardy implementation of development schemes and programmes relating to livestock rearing.

It would not be inappropriate to reiterate that sustainable modern development does not mean economic transformation alone but is better and more fully understood as well- being incorporating dimensions of human and ecological well- being. In keeping with this perspective pastoral way of life is more suited, better rooted historically and ecologically among communities in north-west Thar as compared to  ‘modern development’ that is a recent undertaking primarily orchestrated by state, increasingly controlled by market,  imposed from above and benefitting only a few.

The culture of pastoralism as it developed and sustained itself over long periods of human history in Thar has been adaptive in sharing an interface with subsistence based agriculture and had evolved elaborate customary practices to use and regenerate collective natural endowments of water and fodder. The social organization of this pastoralism consisted of reciprocal ties among communities for utilization of scarce natural resources, adoption of rustic lifestyles that had ability to survive in the long periods of harshness and bloom in the brief spells of abundance. The sway of pastoral way is evident in the dexterous everyday work ethic of rearing animals to aesthetic pursuits of exquisite creations of music and rustic textiles and other crafts. The embedded pastoral landscapes of wide limitless horizons and sprawling sandy plains interspersed with grasslands form a backdrop to growth of musical traditions of sufiyana qalam that celebrate pluralism of human existence and are marked by a heightened ecological sensibility. These life-sustaining practices that illumined the material and symbolic world weave the complex of cultures of pastoralism. The unique contribution of this culture has been notions of abundance and well- being by perfecting frugal lifestyles in a resource scarce region.

This is not a romanticist reinstating. There is need to specifically engage with issues relating to complex ‘culture’ of pastoralism and ‘modern development’ to ask meaningful questions regarding integration and adaptation of the culture of pastoralism in the emerging geography of built environments, roads crisscrossing canal networks and agricultural fields. Far from assuming that contemporary pastoralism is in an inevitable crisis and should/would give way to agro industrial complexes in the rapid on-going transformation, the role of pastoralism needs to be understood keeping in view the historically evolved human ecology of the region and a realistic assessment of possibilities and limits of ‘modern development’ for a sustainable future of Thar. This is quite in order given the high environmental costs, increased economic disparity, intensification of private resource use that characterize the nature of transformations brought in these regions with ‘modern development’.  The sordid tale of grass root realities of colonisation of desert grasslands and water sources - the common property resources - has led to marginalisation of pastoralists and created a political economy of natural resource use that has set in conditions for greater pauperization of poor allotees, stifled collective initiative, intensified resource use and control by private property and greater penetration of market and tightened the hold of soulless institutions of the state.

These questionings are emboldened by several studies elsewhere in world that have highlighted the critical importance of pastoralism in its contribution to sustain natural economy that makes possible and acts as an environmental cushion for the fast urbanizing world. Extensive land use systems need to be promoted and regenerated with reference to arid and super arid regions like the one under discussion. In a world that is increasingly becoming intolerant,  plagued with xenophobic conflict, unbridled consumerism, heightened and often cut throat individualism, and social stress, the deep message inherent in this popular pastoral culture of sufiyana qalam is coterminous with wisdom, love, peace, and dignity of all life. 

There is sense in learning from this remarkably resilient and frugal way of life. It may hold insights and cues for transition to a sustainable world.


Read Related Stories:

http://rahulghai.blogspot.in/2015/12/ignp-canal-in-rajasthan-experiences-of.html

http://rahulghai.blogspot.in/2015/12/pastoralism-in-thar-ignp-and.html

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