Land of milk fast losing its pastures

07 March 2011
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Land-of-milk-fast-losing-its-pastures/758516/
KapilDave: Express India

Gandhinagar: 424 villages in 10 districts of Gujarat have zero pasture land left; cattle owners work as labourers. Rapidly industrialising Gujarat, also home to white revolution, has little time to spare a thought for its cattle and livestock.The state has been rapidly losing its Gauchar, land in villages used for cattle grazing, a fact borne out by the government’s own figures.

As against the 39.56 lakh hectares of grazing land for cattle required as per the state government’s own policy, the state only has an estimated 8.5 lakh hectare (figures almost static since 1960 and seem not updated).

A revenue department notification issued in 1988 makes it mandatory for the state to have 16 hectares (40 acres) of pasture land for every 100 animals in normal areas. In forest areas, it should be 20 acres. So, as per the rule, the state should be having 39,56,480 hectares of pasture land for its more than 2.47 crore cattle.

Encroachment over pasture land, both by industries and powerful locals in connivance with local panchayat officials, has only made the matters worse.
According to the state government’s own data, last updated on September 2010, there have been 50,771 cases of such encroachment in around 16,000 villages of which 36,960 have been there for more than five years.

In 1999, the state government issued a notification to compensate villagers whose pasture land was taken away by charging 30% more money from the buyer and giving it to the gram panchayat to buy alternate pasture land or develop one. Twelve years later, there is no proper mechanism in place to ensure the transfer of money from taluka panchayats to gram panchayats.

For instance, in Vemali village of Vadodara, the government sold pasture land to the Raheja group for developing an SEZ. Though the state received the 30% extra money, it is yet to transfer it to the villagers. It has also failed to provide alternate pasture land to them.

According to data gathered by the human and animal rights NGO, Bombay Humanitarian League, under the RTI Act, 424 villages in 10 districts of Gujarat have zero pasture land left. Data for other districts was not available.

Experts warn that the rapidly vanishing pasture land may hit the state’s animal husbandry and agriculture sector hard, apart from creating social and ecological imbalances.

Nimish Kapadiya, an animal rights and human rights activist and leading Gujarat High Court lawyer who had filed a PIL for saving pasture land, said a “large number of small landless cattle-owners were dependent on their cattle for their livelihood and the lack of pasture land will affect them”.

Lalji Deasi, convenor of the Gujarat Maldhari (pastoral community) Forum who represents the community at the Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO), said the loss of livelihood for the pastoral community is causing migration. “Pastoral community members from Kutch, Saurashtra and North Gujarat have become labourers since they no more possess land, which is either being given by the government to industry or encroached upon by others. “Government’s new policy of stall-feeding cattle instead of allowing them to graze will damage the world-famous Gujarat breed like Gir and Kakrej cows. We are trying to mobilise the community. We will oppose the government’s move to remove restrictions on sale of pastoral land by modifying policies stipulating minimum land to be made available for each cattle.”

When contacted, P Panneervel, the principal sectary at the Revenue Department, said: “We are revamping the whole pasture land policy. So it will not be appropriate to speak anything at present.”

A S Sutaria, who is the revenue inquiry commissioner and secretary at the same department, washed of his hands. “It’s not my subject. I cannot comment,” he said while asking this correspondent to speak to yet another official.