BIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS - Portal do Professor

APPENDIX
A notable feature of the community is the deep split that
runs between its educated and non-educated members.
On the one hand, Formal education has been inculcating a
sense of disdain for traditional knowledge and lifestyles into
the young people and political leaders appeal to herders to
“stop running after the tails of their animals”. A group of welleducated
Raika in elevated positions in society has established
an educational trust that coaches young Raika to prepare
them for professional careers. These efforts are necessary
because the increase in population precludes every young
Raika from becoming a pastoralist. Yet, the same group sees
no merit in their pastoralist heritage and seems disinterested
in promoting and preserving the community’s history
and culture.
On the hand, active herders and especially the elders (panches)
are very opposed to calls to abandon their animals and
usually do not provide proponents with any political support.
The panches revel in their traditional customs and their former
glory as independent herders; and are also are in charge of
sorting out community problems. While their decisions can
be considered wise, they often mete out punishments which
seem unwarranted to onlookers. For this reason, there is also
widespread disgruntlement with these traditional institutions
and in some locations they have been dissolved by
the communities.
The Raika usually list three reasons why livestock keeping
has become unattractive for them: loss of grazing areas,
problems of animal diseases and lack of respect for their way
of life and traditions. The group of Raika which established
the bio-cultural community protocol (BCP) has especially
suffered from the loss of their grazing rights in the Kumbalgarh
Sanctuary which represents their traditional rainy season
ground and for which they had grazing privileges during
the times of the Maharajahs. With the help of Lokhit Pashu-
Palak Sansthan, they have engaged in an extended legal battle
to resurrect their rights, a battle with many ups and downs
and that has been fought both at the Rajasthan High Court
as well as at the Supreme Court in New-Delhi. The latest
episode relates to the “Forest Rights Act” whose adoption by
parliament as law was hailed as a major step forward since it
was extended to include pastoralists after lobbying by the
LIFE-Network. Unfortunately, there are powerful interests,
including the wildlife lobby, against this Act and politicians,
including some who purport to support the Raika and even
hail from the community, have been conniving to undermine
and ignore the implementation of this legal framework.
THE MEANING OF THE RAIKA BIO-CULTURAL PROTOCOL
FOR LIVELIHOODS AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
While the Raika currently have access to the Kumbalgarh
Sanctuary, this is due to a silent agreement with local forest
officials and without solid legal basis. It is this uncertainty
about their legal position and status that makes it risky for
the Raika to put focus solely on herding. It is also at this
juncture where the process of establishing the BCP was of
enormous importance because it made the Raika aware of
the rights that they actually have and because the written
version includes a summary of all relevant laws that can serve
as a reference point for lawyers that they may hire.
Another crucial aspect of the BCP is that is highlights the
international and global value attached to the knowledge
and lifestyle of the Raika from the perspective of biodiversity
conservation. It thereby sends a message to two groups of
people: the educated Raika who would like nothing better
than to dissociate themselves from their heritage and history
and recast themselves as modern Indians. The second group
is government officials, especially technical ones from the
Department of Animal Husbandry who have traditionally
looked down upon the Raika and their way of keeping animals.
Despite the lure of the city, herding traditions are still strong
and at the time of writing huge deras (groups of Raika going
on long distance migration with thousands of sheep, goats
and camels) are walking south on the new four-lane highway
to Udaipur in search for greener pastures. The Bio-cultural
Protocol will support appreciation of this traditional way
of life as an astute response to drought and climate change
rather than a colorful but otherwise quaint and
outdated phenomenon.
A Raika woman and camel
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