The mood is not good among the camel breeders in our area. Practically all of them are trying to sell their herds of female camels, as they have only expenses and no income from them. The talk about the Rajasthan Camel Bill, 2014 is not helping the matter and seems to be increasing the speed with which the Raika are trying to divest themselves of their herds. En route to Jojawar yesterday, we met a herder with nice healthy females that he was intending to sell at Pushkar (when I started my research in 1990/91, there was still a total taboo on selling female camels which was punished by "outcasting"). It breaks one's heart and one wants to buy them all, but that would be a drop in the ocean. What is really needed is a systematic effort of identifying and saving Rajasthan's best camel genetic resources as foundation for developing a dairy industry.

The Raika of Jojawar may be going to Pushkar for the last time, as most of them have not managed to sell any camels there for the last three years. We hear even worse stories from the Mewar area of Rajasthan where - so we were told - entire herds are bundled up and then lifted by means of a JCB into trucks that take them to slaughter houses.