Global InformationBanni Grasslands Reserve information
23°33′00″N 69°16′00″E / 23.55000°N 69.26667°E Banni Grasslands Reserve or Banni grasslands form a belt of arid grassland ecosystem on the outer southern edge of the desert of the marshy salt flats of Rann of Kutch in Kutch District, Gujarat State, India. They are known for rich wildlife and biodiversity and are spread across an area of 3,847 square kilometres. They are currently legally protected under the status as a protected or reserve forest in India. Though declared a protected forest more than half a century ago Gujarat state's forest department has recently proposed a special plan to restore and manage this ecosystem in the most efficient way.[1][2] Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has identified this grassland reserve as one of the last remaining habitats of the cheetah in India and a possible reintroduction site for the species.[3]
The word 'Banni' comes from Hindi word 'banai', meaning made. The land here was formed from the sediments that were deposited by the Indus and other rivers over thousands of years. Old villagers from this region say that before the 1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake, the river Indus flowed right through banni and the local farmers reaped a rich harvest of crops like red rice and sindhi chokha etc., red rice was the staple diet of the people of the region and it was even recommended by medical practitioners as a 'light diet' for ailing people. However, since the earthquake of 1819 the river Indus changed its course and now flows through Sindh in neighbouring country of Pakistan effectively turning this entire region arid.[4][5]
Banni grassland is peculiar to the Rann of Kutch, it has some forty Sindhi speaking Maldhari (cattle breeders) hamlets, home to the Halaypotra, Hingora, Hingorja, Jat and Mutwa tribes .[6] It was first declared a "protected forest" in May 1955, using the nomenclature of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Since then, the actual transfer of the land from the Revenue department to the Forest department has not been completed.[7]
- ^ Centre approves working plan for Banni grassland; by Shubhlakshmi Shukla; 22 October 2009; The Indian Express Newspaper
- ^ State takes 54 years to prepare working plan for Banni grasslands; by Shubhlakshmi Shukla; 21 September 2009; The Indian Express Newspaper
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Workshop on cheetah relocation begins, views differ; Times of Indiawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ 70% of cattle-breeders desert Banni; by Narandas Thacker, TNN, 14 February 2002; The Times of India
- ^ Lost and forgotten: grasslands and pastoralists of Gujarat; by CHARUL BHARWADA and VINAY MAHAJAN; THE FORSAKEN DRYLANDS; a symposium on some of India'smost invisible people; SEMINAR; NEW DELHI; 2006; NUMB 564, pages 35–39; ISSN 0037-1947. Listed at the British Library Online: [1] Archived 18 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Between sun and superstition; EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE; 11 August 1999; Indian Express Newspaper
- ^ Gujarat govt flouts Forest Act, SC fiat; by D V Maheshwari; 10 July 1997; Indian Express Newspaper, The death knell sounded for Banni; Paul John, TNN, 17 July 2005; Times of India