Camel Milk​​​​​​​: Panacea for Diabetes

Maneka Sanjay Gandhi says that we should consume camel milk due to its nutritional and medicinal values, and moreover, it is a superfood for diabetics.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has, on December 2, 2016, put camel milk on its list of animal products that can be marketed for human consumption. One should drink camel milk for the following three reasons:

1. It will save the camels. Camels are in steep decline. In 2012, there were 4 lakh camels— down from 10 lakh in 2008. Now they are less than a lakh. They are found in the five states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. Of these 80 per cent are found in Rajasthan largely bred by the Raika community of pastoralists. There are nine recognized breeds of camels in India of which seven are in Rajasthan. There are 2 crore camels in the world—and India is the only country where they are declining because keeping them has become increasingly unviable for the pastoralists. Their traditional way of life has been attacked by disappearing grazing lands, mechanized farming, and parasitic disease. The Raikas also find themselves struggling to survive in the face of active hostility towards their migratory traditions. In Rajasthan, the number of Raika herders have dropped more than 70 per cent from the 1990s. The number of camels has fallen so drastically in the past 30 years that it has prompted the Rajasthan government to declare it as their state animal in 2014, hoping to increase protection for the animal. With draught requirements being replaced with motorized options, camels are increasingly being illegally sold for meat. Everyday 100 or so are brought out of Rajasthan—even when the law there says that no camels can be taken outside the state—and cut in Mewat/Baghpat/Meerut or sent to Bangladesh. If we could drink camel milk then the herders could earn thousands every month and they would have an incentive to keep them.