[{"postImg":{"cover":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/9/826*532/101RPT1790058/utsa_art_cover.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/9/826*532/101RPT1790058/utsa_art_cover.jpg"},"largeCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/9/724*425/101RPT1790058/utsa_art_cover.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/9/724*425/101RPT1790058/utsa_art_cover.jpg"},"smallCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/9/333*138/101RPT1790058/utsa_art_cover.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/9/333*138/101RPT1790058/utsa_art_cover.jpg"},"metatags":{"whatsappUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/9/300*200/101RPT1790058/utsa_art_cover.jpg","facebookUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/9/1200*630/101RPT1790058/utsa_art_cover.jpg","twitterUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/9/4096*4096/101RPT1790058/utsa_art_cover.jpg"}},"_id":"651426bd74bc222b69562098","postId":"101RPT1790058","postTitle":"GI tag is no quick fix for Bikaner Usta Kala’s return to glory","postDate":"2023-09-27T12:57:33+05:30","content":"

Dwindling number of\nartists, status of caste-based occupation and scarce government support through\nschemes and training camps affect its progress

Bikaner, Rajasthan: Sitting cross-legged at his workshop in Rajasthan’s Bikaner, Shaukat\nAli Usta (52) is engrossed in laying warq\n(fine slivers of gold) on a wooden frame. His work involves not only acquired\nskill, but also loads of patience. The intricate designs that he has laid out\non camel leather-embossed exhibits have not only won him a national award instituted\nby the Ministry of Textiles, but also many valuable customers over the last 30\nyears.

Shaukat learnt the art from Mohammed Hanif Usta, a disciple of Hisamuddin Usta,\na doyen in this field. Despite Bikaner Usta Kala receiving the Geographical\nIndications (GI) tag last month, getting more artists into this profession has\nbecome an arduous task.

Usta\nkala flourished in the Mughal courts,\nbefore Raja Rai Singh, the sixth ruler of Bikaner, patronised it and welcomed artists from Iran, belonging to\nthe Muslim community, to the city famed for its camels. No wonder their work\ninvolving gold meenakari and munawwat was done on camel skin. Nowadays, wood, mirror and marble also\nform the raw\nmaterials. Glass jars, wooden boxes, wall paintings and gift items with usta work are quite popular. There are\nbig works like bandanwars (work on doors)\ntoo.

Usta kala in Bikaner's Bhanda Shah Jain\ntemple is almost 400 years old. Anup Mahal in Junagarh Fort, Jain\nmansions, mosques, Rampuria Haveli, Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Jama Masjid of Delhi,\nNeelkanth Mahadev Temple in Nepal, and mosques of Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia\nare fine examples of workmanship.

However, by 1967, Hisamuddin Usta was the only usta artist left in the country. When\nMunna Lal Goyal became Bikaner Collector in 1976, he exhorted Hisamuddin to impart\nlessons to others. This led to the launch of Camel Hide Training Centre. Mohammed\nHanif Usta soon became Hisamuddin's disciple and started learning the nuances of the art.

While Hisamuddin received Padma Shri Award in 1986, Hanif was\nhonoured with the President's Award in 1993 for his miniature work on marble.\nThe latter had decorated the walls of Anup Mahal and Nizamuddin Dargah.

During Bill Clinton’s official visit to India in 2000, Hanif and\n14 other artists got a chance to meet the then US President. Looking at his\nmarble exhibit, Clinton said he wanted that in the White House. However, Hanif\nreplied that he would not sell the work that fetched him a national award to\nanyone.

Hisamuddin's other disciples\nMohammad Asgar Usta and Ajmal Hussain Usta have received state awards for their commendable works. His grandson\nMohammad Jameel Usta has been working for the promotion of the art through\ninnovative experiments. He has also been a member of the Rajasthan Lalit Kala\nAkademi.

Thanks to Hisamuddin and his disciples, the number of usta artists has increased. However, it\nis still not satisfactory as only less than 70 artists are present in the\nfield.

Usta Kala artists (Clockwise from top left: Shaukat Ali, Chanchal Suthar, Ajmal Hussain Usta, Dipika Shrimali, Naveen Acharya) Photos sourced by Dr Mudita Popli, 101Reporters

An ailing art

Usta artists admitted that lack of skilled people was a reason for the\nart not making much progress, despite having all the necessary ingredients to\nflourish. Usta artists are well-off\nand there is no dearth of work. The income of artists depends on how many pieces they can complete\nin a month, their worthiness and selling prices. Some pieces can fetch Rs 7,000,\nwhile some others Rs 50,000.

There are more opportunities now as new works are commissioned and renovations are carried out on a regular basis at various places, including Delhi Airport, Jain\ntemples and buildings outside the country. The artists also benefit from handicrafts\nfairs organised at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi and other big cities.

However, lack of skilled manpower eventually means a shortage of\ntalented teachers. The art has been confined to a particular caste and that too\nto only Bikaner. This has had a negative impact on its growth. As for women in\nthis field, Shaukat said, “I believe use of purdah makes it difficult for women to do this art.” He added that some Hindu women\nhave entered the field, but their numbers are negligible.

Another important aspect is the time taken to complete a piece.\nShowing a bandanwar he did, Shaukat said\nit took around three months to complete, and it will be priced at above Rs 50,000. Such\nlong periods of work put off the youth, who are keen on getting educated and entering other\nprofessions.

Not just that, it takes at least three to five years to master the\nart. The lack of proper publicity and government efforts to train\npeople also hamper the art.

An Usta Kala article (Photo sourced by Dr. Mudita Popli, 101Reporters)

The much-needed fillip

The GI tag is the first step to protect usta kala. Bikaner District Industries Centre (DIC) General Manager Manju Nain Godara and NABARD officer Ramesh Tambiya\nagreed that duplication of usta artworks\nhas been an issue. However, the GI tag will curb the issue as the names and details of\nthe usta artists will be mentioned on\ntheir artworks, which can be scanned to check authenticity.

Tambiya, Assistant General Manager, NABARD, Bikaner, told 101Reporters that the GI tag will boost employment\nopportunities in the area and will give the art a place in the international\nmarket.

However, Shaukat believed that merely getting a GI tag will not protect\nand promote usta kala. “The art will survive only if it is propagated in a complete\nmanner,” claimed the artist, who has made efforts in collaboration with Prayas\nWelfare Institute, Bikaner, to get the GI certification. Godara, NABARD and the\nDepartment for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce\nand Industry, New Delhi, also played important roles in making it a reality.

Ramesh Tambiya from NABARD and Manju Nain Godara from Bikaner District Industries Centre (Photos sourced by Dr. Mudita Popli, 101Reporters)

For the art to be propagated in a complete manner, there should be\nschemes to promote it. Godara told 101Reporters\nthat no such scheme was being run to help the craft. “For the last four years,\nI have been striving to get GI certification for usta kala. Now, we will make further efforts to encourage the\nartists,” she said.

Asked about training camps for artists, Godara said, “The DIC’s\nmandate is to run government schemes only. Earlier, we used to organise such\ncamps under the aegis of Rajasthan Small Industries Corporation Limited. At\npresent, the National\nInstitute of Fashion Technology, Jodhpur, runs them. USTTAD, a skill upgradation\nscheme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, also aids the artists. The NABARD\nfinances it. However, the duration of the camps is short. If a course is designed\nby the Centre or state government for usta kala, then\nthe DIC can play an important role in it.”

Godara informed that the\nDIC will display usta works at an exhibition of GI products to be held in Jammu and Kashmir in\nthe first week of October. “We always try to provide artists with information about\nvarious fairs and exhibitions, so that they can participate,” she claimed.

Ajmal Hussain Usta, aged around 60 , has 40 years of experience in the field. He told 101Reporters that the government\nwas not doing things right. “We do not get full information about schemes. The\ndissemination of information given on the website of the Union Textile Ministry’s Handicrafts Department is negligible among our artists.”

“Like music, usta kala cannot\nbe learnt completely by attending a training camp of only two or three months.\nIt needs constant practice to attain perfection,” Ajmal said. While echoing his\nviews, Shaukat said, “We need to connect with the youth. Only a few have come\nto learn the art as it is limited only to Usta families. There is also a misconception\nthat it is very expensive\nto learn.\"

Ajmal felt the Camel Hide Training Centre should hold its training sessions more\nregularly. That apart, the Central and state governments should try to link usta with the tourism department\ninitiatives.

Artisan cards

Artisan cards are issued by the Centre to handicraft artists aged above\n18 years on application, so that they could travel in trains free of cost to attend government fairs. They also get free stalls at fairs to exhibit their works. Using the card, they can also participate in art\nrelated marketing schemes of the Central and state governments.

According to Shaukat, the true expansion of usta kala is possible by providing artisan cards, a rightful place\nto capable artists and by properly implementing schemes meant for them.

Usta artist Naveen Acharya (30) said the government training camps should be able to attract young and\nenergetic learners who want to learn the art fully. “Only a few women are\npresent in this field. Through my interactions, I have known that they all have\nlearnt the work with great difficulty,” he said.

Chanchal Suthar (24) told 101Reporters that her artisan card was issued recently and that she\nwished to get more training. Deepika Shrimali (35), who has studied Master of Fine\nArts course, said she learnt usta kala from a\nguest lecturer. “It is not possible to gain professional knowledge in a short\ntime. If an usta course is launched, many\nstudents of Bikaner will become proficient in the art,” she added.

Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli

Cover Photo - Usta Kala of Bikaner city of Rajasthan has got Geographical Indication (GI) certification (Photo sourced by Dr Mudita Popli, 101Reporters)

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The state government and\nthe National Research Centre on Camel need to devise better strategies to shore\nup the dwindling numbers of the ‘ship of the desert’

Bikaner, Rajasthan: ‘Milk and son are never sold’ is a popular saying among the\npeople of the Raika community of Rajasthan. The lives of these pastoralists are\nclosely linked to camels, the ‘ship of the desert’, and they do not have a custom\nof selling camel milk outside.

However, the number of herders in the community and camels is fast\ndwindling. “Earlier, every household in the village used to keep camels. For farming,\nextracting water from wells and carrying loads, camels were the mainstay. They\nwere used for weddings and processions, too,” says Rugharam Raika (56), a farmer and camel keeper from\nBikaner's Sindhu village.

“When our people travelled through the desert and felt tired, they\nused to consume fresh milk from the accompanying camel to quench their thirst\nand hunger. Such was our connection with the animal,” he adds.

The 20th Livestock Census released in 2019 has shown a\n35% decrease in the number of camels in Rajasthan against the previous census data from 2012. Ask him why, and Rughram\nsays, “The youth are not ready to rear camels as it is not possible to roam\naround with them in summers. There are no forests left to graze. Keeping\ncamels involves much expense, and the government's contribution has become\nnecessary. Moreover, vehicles\nhave replaced camels in transportation and machinery in agriculture.”

A camel can munch away 40 kg of green fodder in a day. In case of dry fodder, it takes in around 15 kg. As a result, a farmer has to spend up to Rs 18,000 a month to maintain a camel.

A camel being fed (Photo - Dr. Mudita Popli, 101Reporters)

Space shortage also prevents Raikas from rearing as many camels as\nthey used to in the past. “Around 700 camels were present in the 10 houses of\nmy extended family. Now, there are just 10 in my house due to space constraints,” says Ramswaroop Raika (48), another\ncamel herder from Kesar\nDesar Jatan village near Bikaner.

Jetharam Meghwal (56), a farmer from Nalbari near Bikaner, says the number of camels in\nhis house has come down to just one from nine. “Dry fodder has become so expensive that I cannot afford it. Also, the transportation\ntasks that were earlier carried out using camels are now being done by pickup\nvehicles,” he says.

Bikaner resident Raju attests this when he says he has stopped\ndriving a camel cart and turned to driving a school bus. The Raikas are basically associated with agriculture and animal husbandry, but\nthey do not use camels for agriculture as much as they did before.

However, there is one thing that has not changed for the Raikas.\nThey still do not sell camel milk. “There are other caste people like Rabaris and Meghwals who sell milk,\nbut it is a taboo for us,” Ramswaroop insists.

Government effort boomerangs

Only 2.50 lakh camels are left in the whole of India, of which\nabout 2.25 lakh are in Rajasthan. The National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC), established in Bikaner in 1984 under\nthe aegis of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, is making continuous\nefforts to boost their numbers through technological interventions and\nawareness programmes.

A camel gets ready for pregnancy only by the age of four, while\nthe gestation period is around 13 months. “We, at the NRCC, have been experimenting to reduce the time\ntaken to get pregnant to two-and-a-half years,” says NRCC Principal\nScientist Dr RK Sawal.

In a bid to shore up the desert animal’s population, the\nstate government has been providing Rs 10,000 to the farmer when a calf is born.\nHowever, farmers say this assistance is hardly enough to meet the fodder needs for four months.

Camels got the status of the ‘state animal of Rajasthan’ in 2014,\nafter which the rules for transporting them to other states became very strict.\nThough done with a good intention to protect the animal, it posed issues for the people\nof nomadic communities as they often moved the\nanimals from one place to another for grazing. Eventually, they reduced the\nnumber of camels they rear.

NRCC Director Dr Artabandhu Sahoo informs 101Reporters that the ‘state animal’ tag has had a negative impact.\n“The District Magistrate's permission became mandatory to sell camels or transport\nthem to other states. As herders live in extremely rural settings, they have no\nidea of how to take approval. It is not easy either,” he says.

Reminding that the camel population will not increase just by\ngiving the ‘state animal’ status, he says the state government should review\nits rules to stop camel herders from discarding their profession.

In this context, the local officials of the Animal Husbandry Department\ntell 101Reporters that they have no\nrole to play as the NRCC, which is directly affiliated with the Centre, is\nworking for the conservation and promotion of camels in Rajasthan.

NRCC works towards the conservation and promotion of camels in Rajasthan (Photo - Dr. Mudita Popli, 101Reporters)

In 2008, the NRCC established the country's first camel milk dairy\nin Bikaner, which currently provides up to 100 litres daily. The NRCC has also tried\nbreaking the taboo surrounding the sale of camel milk in the Raika community\nbut without much success. Only a few have shun their aversion to sell to shops,\nwhere camel milk is now available at Rs 80 per litre.

A powerhouse of\nnutrition

Camel milk is a nutritional powerhouse with extraordinary\nmedicinal properties. “It has low fat with high percentage of desalted calcium,\nvitamin C and micronutrients such as iron, copper and zinc. This is why we\ndeveloped camel milk tea, coffee, kulfi,\nlassi, paneer, barfi, peda, kheer, ice cream and cheese from it,” says Dr Sawal.

These products are not available in the market, and can be purchased only from the NRCC. Those who purchase milk mostly use it to deal with diseases. Camel milk is beneficial in cases of dengue, autism and diabetes. A study on the prevalence\nof diabetes had found that the Raikas who habitually consumed camel milk did not\nsuffer from diabetes.

“Based on availability, the NRCC provides camel milk to a private\nhospital in Pune, and another\nin Punjab’s Faridkot catering to autistic children. Beauty\nproducts and millet food items containing camel milk are also being prepared\nfor launch,” Dr Sawal says, adding that the centre has developed an anti-snake\nvenom from camel's blood for saw-scaled viper\nattacks.

Camel bone and leather can be turned into valuable products. Items\ncarved from the bone can be as beautiful as ivory creations, yet cheaper.

Though continuous efforts, including holding races and decoration competitions, have been made to connect the public\nwith camels, positive results have\nnot been achieved. The youth shy away from rearing camels citing the expenses\ninvolved and strict laws, whereas the herders in neighbouring Gujarat are buying\nmore animals as they get remunerative\nprices by associating with Anand Milk Union Limited (Amul).

Camel meat is consumed in many Arab countries, but Rajasthan\nbanned its slaughter by approving\nthe Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration\nor Export) Act, 2015, which deprived camel herders of a source of income.

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Camels are the identity of Rajasthan. Only a new action plan with\na focus to boost the income of rearers can arrest the decline in numbers of\nthese hoofed mammals in the state.

Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli

Cover Photo - A farmer/camel keeper feeding the camels (Photo - Dr. Mudita Popli, 101Reporters)

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