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 their 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.Centre approves working plan for Banni grassland; by Shubhlakshmi Shukla; 22 October 2009; The Indian Express NewspaperState takes 54 years to prepare working plan for Banni grasslands; by Shubhlakshmi Shukla; 21 September 2009; The Indian Express Newspaper 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.
The word 'Banni' comes from the 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 the neighbouring country of Pakistan effectively turning this entire region arid.70% of cattle-breeders desert Banni; by Narandas Thacker, TNN, 14 February 2002; The Times of IndiaLost 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; . Listed at the British Library Online:
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 .Between sun and superstition; EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE; 11 August 1999; Indian Express Newspaper 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.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
Vegetation
Vegetation in Banni is sparse and highly dependent on year-to-year variations in rainfall. Banni is dominated by low-growing forbs and graminoids, many of which are halophiles (salt-tolerant), as well as scattered tree cover and scrub. The tree cover is primarily composed of Salvadora spp. and the invasive Prosopis juliflora. Dominant species include Cressa cretica, Cyperus spp., grasses in the genera Sporobolus, Dichanthium, and Aristida.
Wildlife The grasslands are home to mammals such as the nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), chinkara (Gazella bennettii),Kutch to have chinkara conservation centre; 6 May 2009; Times of India blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), wild boar (Sus scrofa), golden jackal (Canis aureus), Indian hare (Lepus nigricollis), Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), caracal (Caracal caracal), Asiatic wildcat (Felis silvestris ornata) and desert fox (Vulpes vulpes pusilla) etc. among others. The last Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) population, which had become confined to nearby Little Rann of Kutch, has been increasing in numbers since 1976 and has recently started spilling over into adjoining areas including Greater Rann of Kutch, Banni and the adjoining villages of the neighbouring Indian state of Rajasthan. by DIONNE BUNSHA; Volume 23 – Issue 08 :: 22 Apr – 5 May 2006; Frontline Magazine; India's National Magazine from the publishers of THE HINDUWild asses population rises by 4% (2009);TNN; 11 April 2009; Times of IndiaWild Ass sighted in Rajasthan villages along Gujarat; by Sunny Sebastian; 13 September 2009; The Hindu, India's National Newspaper
Banni grasslands also have a rich diversity of avifauna, herpetofauna and invertebrates. During good rainfall years the seasonal water bodies of Banni form important staging grounds for thousands of flamingos, migratory cranes and also support large numbers of over 150 species of migratory and resident birds.
Reintroduction of cheetah
Banni Grasslands Reserve and Narayan Sarovar Sanctuary, both in Kutch, have been classified by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) as the last remaining habitats of the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) in India and are proposed as some of the possible sites for the reintroduction of the species in India.Banni Grassland possible home for cheetahs; Himanshu Kaushik, TNN, 3 October 2009; Times of IndiaCheetahs on their way to Gujarat? 12 September 2009; Times of India Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) that used to occur here are now locally extinct in India and elsewhere, except a very small critically endangered and fragmented population of last few, estimated to be below 100, thought to be surviving only in the central desert of Iran. Thus cheetah experts from around the world have advised India to import and introduce the cheetah from Africa as genetically it is identical to the ones found is Asia, as genetic studies had suggested that the Asian population had separated from the African relatively recently only 5000 years ago which is not enough for a subspecies level differentiation.Workshop on cheetah relocation begins, views differ; PTI, 9 September 2009; The Times of IndiaIndia to get cheetahs from Namibia; by Neha Sinha; 9 July 2009; 2 Page article online; Indian Express NewspaperCheetah re-introduction plan under discussion; IANS; 2009-09-09; Sify News. See also . See also , Experts eye African cheetahs for reintroduction, to submit plan ; ICT by IANS; 11 September 2009; THAILAND NEWS; A news portal for Indians in Thailand. See also at sulekha news , Spotted: Lean Cat Rerun – Hunted out from Indian grasslands, the cheetah may tear across the landscape again; by Shruti Ravindran; environment: wildlife; 5 Oct 2009; Outlook India magazineIndia tries cheetah diplomacy on Iran; By James Lamont in New Delhi; 5 August 2009; Financial Times Plan for cheetah relocation in India; PTI; 8 September 2009; Times of IndiaMore places identified for housing cheetah; by Anindo Dey, TNN; 11 September 2009; Times of IndiaIndia plans return of the cheetah – India plans to bring back the cheetah, nearly half a century after it became extinct in the country. The BBC's Soutik Biswas considers whether it is a good idea.; 20 September 2009; BBC NEWS However, the plan has been on hold from 2012, after the discovery that Asiatic cheetahs are genetically different and have been diverged from the Southern African population (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) between 32,000 and 67,000 years ago.
Seasonal wetlands and abundance of waterbirds
Monsoon rains each year form several marshy wetlands which dot the Banni grasslands and the areas adjacent to it, all being ephemeral or seasonal in nature. Some better-known examples are: Vekario-Dhand, Kheerjog, Vinzar varo Thathh, Hodko Thathh, Servo-Dhand, Bhagadio Thathh, Kar near Kirro, Kunjevari Thathh, Hanjtal, and Chari-Dhand – the biggest in size among all of them. In the local Kutchhi-Sindhi language there are four terms used for wetlands in Banni and across the border in Pakistan, they are Kar (smallest), Chhachh (bigger than Kar), Thathh (bigger than Chhach) and Dhand (the biggest of the wetlands). The area of each of these seasonal freshwater wetlands during any given year depends upon the amount of rainfall received during that year.Chhari-Dhand Conservation Reserve ; Jugal Kishore Tiwari; Wetlands Forever website
These wetlands are located on the flyway of Palearctic migratory birds and play a very important role as foraging, roosting, resting and staging grounds for millions of waders, waterfowl, cranes and other feathered migrants that visit the area from August and staying until March every year. Thousands of flamingos in their breeding plumage, common cranes (Grus grus) and other wetland birds including hundreds of painted storks (Mycteria leucocephala) and Eurasian spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) among others can be spotted in the larger of these seasonal wetlands of the Banni.
One of the largest of these seasonal wetlands in the Banni is Chari-Dhand Wetland Conservation Reserve which has been accorded special protected status as a protected or reserve forest to conserve its wildlife and visiting migratory birds.(Gujarat) State thinks green, banks on eco-tourism; by DEBARATI BASU, Shubhlakshmi Shukla; 26 Aug 2008; Indian Express NewspaperMigratory birds come flocking as Chari-Dhand gains ‘wet’; by D V MAHESHWARI; 22 Aug 2008; Indian Express NewspaperBhuj wetland to be turned into a tourist hot spot; by D V MAHESHWARI; 24 Jun 2008; Indian Express NewspaperChari-Dhand wetland yet to get conservation reserve tag; by D V MAHESHWARI; 15 Jun 2008; Indian Express Newspaper
Overgrazing, recurring droughts and salinity ingress The Banni grasslands are under pressure due to man-made factors which are overgrazing, invasion by Prosopis juliflora, an exotic thorny tree, and natural factors which are recurring droughts and salinity ingress.Banni Grasslands; Kutch Dist., Gujarat – A complex rainwater harvesting system developed over centuries by the Maldharis of Banni grasslands is threatened by natural factors and man made interventions. Water Harvesting: Addressing the problem of drinking water; The Friends of River Narmada ()
The main sources of income of Maldharis pastoralist communities such as the Halaypotra, Hingora, Hingorja, Jat, Ker, and Mutwa who live here with their livestock are sale of high quality ghee, milk, wool, animals and handicrafts. Due to several reasons, the traditional occupational pattern is changing from livestock breeding to livestock grazing.
The climate is arid with an average rainfall of only 315 mm per year between June and September. The number of days during which rain falls in a year usually does not exceed 4 or 5. Banni has almost no rivers or natural streams however, about 100 rivers and rivulets flowing northwards from the Kutch mainland drain into the grasslands of Banni along its southern boundary. This area near the boundary gets flooded during the rainy season mainly by the water brought by these rivers and local rainfall. It is this annual flooding and the old silt deposits that formed Banni, which were deposited here when the Indus River used to flow through the region until it changed its course due to the 1819 earthquake. This gave rise to what is often called Asia's finest natural grasslands.
This entire region of Kutch, Gujarat is however drought prone due to erratic monsoons with cattle breeding pastoralist tribes (Maldharis) living here having to move out with their livestock as the region turns into a desert in bad rainfall years. by LYLA BAVADAM recently in Gujarat; Volume 17 – Issue 10, 13 – 26 May. 2000; Frontline Magazine; India's National Magazine from the publishers of THE HINDU by LYLA BAVADAM; Volume 18 – Issue 12, 9–22 Jun 2001; Frontline Magazine; India's National Magazine from the publishers of THE HINDUA desert weeps – In the Kutch, the locals are in uneasy co-existence with their natural resources, writes PAMELA BHAGAT.; 6 June 2004; The Hindu, India's National Newspaper
Invasive ganda bawal tree