6 PM in the evening

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6 PM in the evening as our jeep sped towards Tanot, 55 km west of ramgarh in Jaialmer, we were in the open country, in a vast pasture land. Lines of Cows, camels, sheep and goats returning from pastures could be noticed on the vast sprawling horizons.

In Rajasthan, the Indira Gandhi Canal has adversely affected the sewan grasslands, which have provided highly nutritious fodder for the cattle in the Thar for centuries. There is nothing but sand interspersed with rocks, reflecting sunlight in all its resplendence. Traveling north-west of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan suddenly one come across a hutment surrounded by a carpet of yellow-gray shrubs clothing the surface. In the heart of Thar desert, where eking out a livijg is as difficult as anywhere else in the world, have provided vital nutritious fodder for the cattle of the pastoral inhabitants of the area.

Not so long back, vast stretches of rolling sewan grasslands could be seen extending into the horizon. Not any more. Sewan is difficult to find in Bikaner district of Rajasthan. The IGNP, which has brought water and water intensive agriculture from Punjab to Rajasthan, is to be blamed largely. The main canal and its network of channels as you drive through Bikaner to Jaisalmer along the canal pass through some of the most important sewan pastures of the region, slicing them into individual agricultural holdings. Here land is being cleared for agriculture. Flood irrigation has greatly increased soil moisture, threatening the survival of the remaining sewan grasslands. The grass is not adaptive to high soil moisture regimes.

Sewan grasslands are spread in the low rainfall zone of Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer districts. Popularly known as the golden grass or the king of the desert, sewan (Lasirius Sindicus) is remarkably adapted to the desert. Extremely finicky about timing and the amount of rainfall, sewan’s roots can however lie low and wait for years at stretch, despite recurring periods of drought. A couple of showers are all it takes for the grasss to maximize its production. The locals swear that the butter and milk fro cattle fed with this grass is a distinctly of a darker shade of yellow and highly enriched. Sewan is cut and stored by the villagers for use in times of scarcity that are not infrequent. The grass can be stored for about ten years without getting spoilt.

The villages of Ranau and Ghantiyali are actually small hamlets of cattle herders. They are situated on the extreme west of Rajasthan on the International border with Pakistan. The entire area is dry, sandy with very little water. A few hills and many sand dunes punctuate this flat scrubby landscape. The klands slope towards the Indus valley and rann of Kutch.

The topograpohy is undulating, as far as the eye can see, the landscape is covered with sand dunes. The ridges usually are parallel to the prevailing direction of the wind. The blown sand hills in the west are covered with small bushes and those in the east with tuffs of long grass. There is an endless strudggle for survival which is reflected in all aspects of life forms of the inhabitants whether man or animals.

In these villages, livestock rearing is the predominant occupation of the population. It is a way of life that the pastoralists have adopted with the environment. As grazing resources decline, the pastoralists find themselves pushed against the wall. Migrating along with their livestock, in the plains as well as in the hills, pastoral nomads are being forced to give up their traditional practices. Their groups have typically delineated routes and usufruct agreements with agricultural communities, many of which have endured over time. A progressive and rapid decline of the common lands is forcing them to join the rural and urban poor.

Pastoralists of Ramgarh region do have a permanent home, while their herds shift around in the pastureland managed by herdsmen. Symbiotic relationships between the settled non-pastoralist and the pastoralist nomadic population have changed considerably. Settled population no longer welcomes the pastoralist as they also believe (like the State, NGO, policy makers…) those pastoralists are associated with destructive activities pertaining to soil erosion.

Increasing cultivation is also contributing to the destruction of grasslands in this region, with the demand for cultivable land rising all the time. So far as the demands of people and animals compete for land resources, the grasslands would continue to be razed. If these grasslands are lost, along with them would go the immense bio diversity they sustain. Grasses have both biological and economic value, providing food and habitat to a great variety of organisms: insects, reptiles, amphibians. The bird, lesser Florican, is purely a grasslands species. The survival of animals such as wild buffalo, hardground barasingha, blackbuck, chinkara, wild ass are intimately linked to the health of the grasslands.

The last time India’s grasslands were surveyed was thirty years ago. I think if one were to go back to the areas that were surveyed earlier, the chances of finding grasslands are extremely remote. If something substantial is not done at the administrative level and at the local level or by the people themselves (and fast), there may never be need for another survey.

Degradation of grasslands is a countrywide phenomenon. All states possessing grasslands are witnessing the results of a total absence of management efforts, alienation of the people who have natural stakes in the conservation of grasslands. In the districts of Jaisalmner, Barmer and Bikaner are found some of the finest grasslands. These grasslands are depleting with time. Optimum cover is now confined to inaccessible areas beyond Ramgarh.

Government of Rajasthan and scientists of Agricultural Universities complain that over grazing does not give the grasslands a chance to recover. Consequently the perennial grasses are fast getting replaced by seasonal varsities that have a low nutritional value.

But I think it is just the livestock that is to be blamed. I feel that land grabbing (conversion of grazing land to other use) is more to be blamed than the overgrazing cattle. Besides it needs to be remembered that the dung and the urine from the livestock help in regenerating the grasslands. Goats, the government and most of the people believe, pose th greatest threat to grasslands. But the importance of goats lies in cash returns it gives to its owner but also in its role in raising sheep. As locals were saying, goats often act as foster mothers to lambs as well as assist the shepherd in grazing and herding sheep flocks. Also, in the case of any attack by wild animals, it is goats who bleat giving warning sounds of the danger. The rate of mortality among the sheep is much higher than goats in a scarcity period. It is a common saying that during scarcity the camel will eat everything but the Toomba (Caloptropis) but the goat eat that as well and leave only pebbles. This implies that the goats can survive on the scantiest of vegetation. Blaming the goat for the vast destruction of the grasslands may not be very realistic.

There is no grasslands policy. As things stand the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests is quibbling over whose baby grazing really is. Existing policies for pastoral areas fail to appreciate the practical or valuable implications of traditional resource use and regeneration practices. These practices should be researched objectively and improved upon to meet the contemporary requirements. Many of the core assumptions that provide the basis for grasslands use and appropriation in the region of Ramgarh should be challenged.

Manmohan Kumar is a PhD student from Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, SSS, JNU, Delhi

Photo Credits: Swasti Singh

This article was first publisehed in Drishitikon[1], Vol. 2, 2002

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[1] Drishtikon was a newsletter on Livelihoods and Advocacy in Thar, AZERC URMUL Trust & Oxfam