Rajasthan’s lost ships

Loss of traditional grazing pastures is one of the major causes of the camel’s decline in its stronghold of the northwestern state

Camel herders in Rajasthan have been forced to look for newer pastures as traditional grazing lands have declined.Photo: Vikas Choudhary/CSE

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10 Apr 2026, 8:27 am

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The camel is synonymous with the image of Rajasthan, India’s main desert state. Here, herders from Bikaner in the state’s west lead their camels across fields in Dausa in the state’s east.

These photos capture the current reality of the species in what was once its stronghold.

But diminishing pastures are just one reason for the overall decline of the species. Other reasons include mechanisation of agriculture and a key legislation which crashed prices.Photo: Vikas Choudhary/CSE

The loss of pastures and village commons to agricultural fields is one of several major reasons for the ongoing decline of the camel in Rajasthan.

Other causes include mechanisation of agriculture, and the Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 2015, which crashed market prices by curbing sales.

What were once the symbols of the desert state, have now sadly become economically unviable for breeders.Photo: Vikas Choudhary/CSE

The camel population in Rajasthan has declined by over 70 per cent since the 1990s, plunging from 746,000 in 1992 to just over 200,000 in the 2019 census, as they have become economically unviable for breeders.

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