Rajasthan Camel Act

The Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act aims to prohibit slaughtering of camels. Also, it regulates temporary migration and export of camels from Rajasthan.

What are the key features of the law?

• The law states that no person shall sell, possess or transport camel meat or camel meat products.
• No person shall export camels himself or through any agent. The act prohibits export of camel not only outside the country, but also outside the state.
• It regulates temporary migration of camels. The Competent Authority shall issue special permission for their export for agricultural activities. However, the authority should ensure that such export should not reduce the number of camels below the level of actual requirement of the local area. Here the competent authority is the collector or any other officer who is authorised on behalf of the Government.

Why was the law passed?

The law was passed by the then BJP Government of the State (led by Vasundra Raje) in 2015. According to the government, camels were becoming endangered in the state. There were reports that large number of camels were exported to other states for the purpose of slaughtering. This increased during the scarcity and famine conditions in the state.

What are the concerns?

According to the breeder communities of camels called Raika and Raibari, the process of getting permission to transport camels to other states takes months. This has reduced the purchasers from other states who were the primary customers of camel fairs. In 2011, around 8,238 camels participated in a fair. But in 2019, the numbers decreased to 3,928 in the same fair. With this, the camel herders in the state have decreased as there is no economic benefit. Eventually, this has led to the overall decline in camel population. According to Livestock census, the camel population was 2012 lakh in 2012. This reduced to 3.2 lakh in 2019.