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Since 1919, when the first livestock census happened, India will be counting its pastoral livestock, enumerating pastoral communities and their contribution to the livestock sector for the first time, as part of the 21st Livestock Census.

Why is the pastoral census important?

India has a significant population of pastoralists. Every year, thousands of pastoralists, along with their animals, make periodic journeys on foot, from one climatic region to another for availability of food, and to take advantage of suitable pastures and grasslands.

According to organizations working with pastoral communities, about 20 million pastoralists graze the country’s forests and grasslands. But there are no official numbers as till now there was not much recognition of the age-old livelihood practice of transhumance pastoralism in livestock management.

Pastoralism is one of the oldest and most sustainable food systems. It makes a significant contribution to the economy but is poorly documented. It is also understood that lands sustained by pastoralism form the largest carbon sink, as herbivores' grazing of the pastures stimulates plant regrowth.

With this year’s Livestock Census (21st), the country will have official figures on the pastoral ecosystem for the first time.

How will the census ensure maximum coverage?

As pastoral systems depend on movement to access feed for the livestock, enumeration at the household level may prove to be challenging. Hence, the government has engaged civil society organisations (CSO) along with pastoral leaders and youth to ensure inclusivity in data collection.

Towards this mandate, the government, along with the support of pastoral communities and CSOs, has come up with a definition for a pastoralist as a guiding principle for enumerators.

A pastoralist is one who:

1. Livestock moves outside of his / her village for at least a month in a year
2. Livestock depends on common resources (village commons, pastures, grasslands, common water bodies).

A pastoral cell within the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying also provides targeted support.

There is a whole wave of change also because of the United Nations declaring 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) and 2024 was the International Year of Camelids (IYC).

There is a growing recognition of pastoralism and there are many processes feeding into pastoral advocacy and representation,

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