The NRCC

My academic affiliation is with the National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC), a division of the Indian Council on Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the Ministry of Agriculture. The campus, located approximately 10km south of Bikaner, resembles the ag-school campuses found around the world. A grand administrative building is flanked by the main laboratory facilities, all surrounded by the pens, corrals, and sheds necessary for the maintenance and study of the Centre's 300 camels. Auxiliary facilities include a small housing complex for researchers (now abandoned), a dairy, and the guest house where I currently reside. The Centre lies on a tract of over 600 hectares, maintained for camel grazing as well as for studies of multiple-use silviculture.

The 20-some scientists working here vary widely in their specializations, but a unified theme is the effort to find new uses for the camel in modern times. Traditional communities deep in the desert cannot afford to maintain their camel herds due to environmental degradation and economic changes, but neither can they survive in such an arid climate without the animal's draught capabilities. If the economics of camel ownership can be improved, be it through nutritional changes, modified reproductive practices, new uses, or, most promisingly, milk production, then the camel's importance, and the survival of desert communities, can be assured.

Some of the NRC's pregnant females, whose angst necessitates isolation.