Faced with a declining number of camels in Rajasthan, the has announced a ‘Camel Protection and Development Policy’ in its budget 2022-23.Camelis the state animal ofRajasthanand their number is continuously decreasing.
The demand for camel protection in the state has been rising for a long time.
Considering this, chief ministerAshok Gehlotproposed a budget of Rs 10 crore in the next financial year under the new policy for rearing, protection, and overall development of the state animal.
According to the government figures, there are now less than two lakh camels left in the state, while the number of camels in the entire country has reduced by 1.5 lakh since 2012.
There were about 2.5 lakh camels left when counted last in 2019.
According to the data released by the centre in the Parliament in December, there were 4 lakh camels across India in the 2012 Livestock census, and by the 2019 census their number had dwindled to 2.52 lakh.
According to the 2019 animal census, the number of camels in Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Nagaland officially fell to zero, while in 2012, these states had 45, 03, 07 and 92 camels respectively.
About 85 per cent of the country’s camels are found in Rajasthan followed by Gujarat, Haryana,Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.
According to the information given in the Parliament, the number of camels in Rajasthan in 2012 was 3,25,713, which had reduced to 2,12,739 in 2019.