Jaisalmer, Rajasthan: On a hot summer evening, Jora Ram Devasi (74) walks across the barren Oran near his home in Achla village in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, where his camels graze. Orans are community-preserved sacred forests that have been home to desert villages for centuries and have provided pasture, food, water and shelter for wildlife.
As he reaches the pasture, he looks up at the tall wind turbines dotted for miles across the landscape.
“There was a time when the country had no borders and no fences… just long stretches of golden land with bushes, shrubs and herb trees. Now it’s just factories and our land, our home, is just a drop in the ocean,” he said, preparing food for the 15 to 20 camel calves around him.
“Once upon a time, you could walk through the Oran region to Bikaner, Jodhpur or Barmer. We marched with camels for three or four days to trade, crossing one region after another. The country was open to everyone, without restrictions.”
Achla belongs to the Degrai Oran, is about 625 years old and is one of about 25,000 Orans across Rajasthan. Covering an area of nearly 60,000 bighas (more than 37,000 acres), it is also among the largest and is revered by around 24 villages as the seat of the deity Deg Rai Mata.
Environmentalist and Jaisalmer-based farmer Parth Jagani, who works to protect Oran, traces its origins to the rule of King Rawal Jaisal, the founder of Jaisalmer, who gave the land to the Bhati Rajputs, Bishnois and Rabari communities in recognition of their role in defending the kingdom.
The village’s custom has since prohibited felling of trees, hunting and pollution of water bodies in the Oran. On a visit to one such lake, 101reporters found it clean, with no plastic or trash in sight. For generations, villagers here have stored rainwater, tended the landscape and grazed their livestock, while species such as the endangered great bustard, nilgai, deer and peacocks have also made the Oran their home.
Shrinking pastureland
Achla has around 120 families. Around 30 to 35 members serve in the Indian Air Force while the rest mainly depend on livestock farming.
Jora Ram belongs to the Rabari community, an indigenous semi-nomadic pastoralist group spread across Rajasthan and Gujarat whose life has long revolved around camel rearing. A decade ago he owned almost 300 camels. Today he has around 50.
“Due to the growing number of solar and wind projects in the Oran, grazing land for animals and villagers has shrunk. There is almost no grass or pasture left because whatever is left has been overgrazed. The camels now feed on raw berries, which leads to fatal skin diseases and eventually kills them. Feed is too expensive for us, so they don’t survive long.”
Fences, project boundaries and overhead power lines have exacerbated the problem. Camels traditionally left to graze are increasingly suffering electrocution deaths or serious injuries when they become entangled in fences.
Teejo Devi, 65, who owns two camels and a few goats, says her animals always return home alone in the evening.
“At this age, it’s not possible for me to accompany them, especially in the summer. My heart skips a beat every evening when they don’t come back on time.”
She has already lost a camel and a piece of livestock.
Camels in front of Teejo Devi’s house (Photo – Somrita Ghosh, 101Reporters)
Women bear the burden
The effects go far beyond livestock farming. Women in Rabari households are responsible for cooking and other household chores, and camel milk ghee is traditionally their main cooking fat. With fewer camels, many households now purchase cow’s milk, increasing their monthly expenses.
“Also, we now have to walk for miles to collect ker, sangri, neem and other wild berries for daily consumption. In the peak summer months, it is almost impossible to walk for hours just to collect vegetables. Many of the trees are now on land taken over by renewable energy companies.”
“The temperatures have also increased. Jaisalmer has always been hot, but in the last five or six years it has become even hotter. Water bodies are drying up faster and water tankers are very expensive. Our daily struggle to meet basic needs is increasing,” said Devki (21), who stopped studying after high school.
Beyond subsistence, the Oran was also central to women’s autonomy. Collecting Ker and Sangri traditionally provides a rare opportunity to leave home, spend time together and share concerns away from domestic duties. This connection to the land prompted women from Achla to write to the prime minister last year highlighting the threat to Oran.
According to Teju Devasi, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism and Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat later sent his staff to meet the villagers at Tanot Mata Temple and assured them that the matter would be addressed. Since then, some solar transmission lines have been removed while others have been moved underground to reduce the risk to livestock. However, villagers say nothing has been done to prevent further diversion from Oran Land.
Uncertain future
Employment has done little to offset the villagers’ losses.
According to Teeju Devasi (26), a private school teacher, older Renewable energy projects had promised local jobs, but newer projects make no such commitments.
About 12 to 15 families now employ men in low-paying jobs in nearby factories.
“Most of the employees come from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Jharkhand. People in our community are not well educated, so it is difficult to find good jobs. Those who work earn only Rs 16,000 to Rs 18,000 a month. We also do not prefer to leave the village for education. Ultimately, we continue to depend on livestock farming.”
The projects surrounding Degrai Oran include those of NTPCReNew Power, NALCO, Sembcorp, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, KC Construction and Engineering, Adani Hybrid 2A Camp Ltd and Eden.
No legal recognition
Much of Degrai Oran remains unregistered. Since private ownership is not recorded, most of the land falls under the Forest Department by default, while only small portions used for cultivation appear in revenue records.
“The only thing in our hands is to ask the government not to further reduce oran cultivation. This is our homeland and the heritage of our ancestors. We worship local deities; the Khejri tree is a goddess to us and we eat the kair and sangri it produces. This is not an agricultural country, so our food comes mainly from bushes and shrubs.”
“Only 4,000 hectares are officially recorded as Oran in the revenue records. The remaining 6,000 to 8,000 hectares are still considered wasteland,” Teju Devasi said.
In December 2024, the Supreme Court recognized Orans as forests under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and directed the Rajasthan government to comprehensively map them as many of them were never officially recorded as forests.
The decline in camel numbers now extends far beyond Achla.
Earlier this year, the Rajasthan High Court found that the state’s camel population has more than halved since the Camel Protection Act was passed. Official figures submitted to the court showed that the number of camels fell from around 7.5 lakh in 2004 to 3.26 lakh in 2015, before falling further to 2.13 lakh within four years and to nearly 1.5 lakh by 2021.
“Both the number of camel herders and the camel population have declined, and local herders are no longer traveling outside the region,” Jagani said.
“The government provides financial support when a camel calf is born, but for raising an animal like a camel, this amount is a drop in the ocean. With the influx of corporations, grazing land has become scarce. Even the Degrai Oran no longer has enough fodder to graze, and there is no government regulation for camel feed.”
He added that memoranda have been submitted from the district administration to the chief minister for the official registration of Orans.
Fight for Oran
“A decade ago, when the state government started allocating Oran land to renewable energy companies for building wind turbines, we protested and stopped them. But the protest lost momentum and the companies eventually followed suit,” said Jora Ram.
A few years ago, he reached out to Jagani and other conservationists, which eventually led to a larger movement this year.
Around 200 residents from western Rajasthan took out a 725 km march from Tanot Mata Temple to Jaipur demanding that no more Oran land be converted for renewable energy projects. Protesters say state officials have not met them and their demands remain unresolved.
Since then, Jagani has begun restoring grasslands on nearby wastelands to create fresh pastures for camels.
Mureed Khan, Achlas Sarpanch, denies claims of irregular allocation of Oran land and says existing Khasra records have been respected. However, he acknowledges the decline in camel numbers.
“People are no longer interested in buying camels. They have become a liability rather than an asset. Maintenance costs are high and locals cannot afford them. It is true that solar panels and power lines kill camels. When an animal is injured, the owners often do not spend money on treatment and it dies.” RN Mehrotra, former head of the Rajasthan Forest Department, says orans are among the most valuable community-preserved ecosystems in the Thar Desert.
“Unless a project is defensive or of extreme importance, it should not affect Orans. These are the rarest form of forest – small islands in the desert – and are the basic life support system for these villages. When the forest disappears, the village disappears too. No village economy in the desert survives without livestock, and livestock survives in the forest.”
“The government has generally not disrupted Orans, but private agencies are increasingly finding ways to intervene.”
An official request has been sent to the Rajasthan Revenue Department for allotment of Oran land. At the time of publication it had not responded. The answer will be taken into account upon receipt.
Somrita Ghosh is a freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.
101Reporters is a pan-India network of grassroots reporters that unearths unheard stories from the hinterland.