Nalwar Fair, Boon or Bane for Cattle

Fair and festival is life and light of the nation. These fairs have a very special reason to celebrate and hides a story behind them. Nalwar fair is also one of them. The fair is celebrated in different places at the time for  harvesting of crops. Bilaspur, Sundernagar, Sandhole etc are few of the famous places to celebrate the occasion. It is the time when crops are cultivated and harvested in the month of April and May. Oxen plays a crucial role in farming specially in hilly areas where cultivation without them is equal to impossible.

 The fair is specially meant for the cattle to be brought and sold. Farmers from different parts of the state come over there with their oxen, sold their own and have a new pair according to their will and need. Before purchasing they try several methods like the physic and the alertness of the animal.

Inauguration of Sandhole Nalwar Fair, 2016 

By the passage of the time, everything has now been changed. Oxen has now been replaced by the science and technology in the form of machines like tractors, threshing machines, harrows etc. Farmers who have been feeding millions, at present have become and idle and living in lurch. Of course science has brought wonder in our life, in fact the inventions of science has given a great relief to the farmer. They now have easy mean of ploughing their fields, growing good harvests and ripping them through the invented fertilizers and machines and yielding more and more.The grievances of the farmer are the unaffordable roles of tractors, thrashers and some times non available of good seeds and fertilizers in the stores. They feel helpless before the adamancy of the owner of the tractor for their own made sale.

Though the land of Sandhole is enough fertile still the farmers are showing their disinterest towards the agriculture due to lack of irrigation. Many land can be seen uncultivated at different places and oxen like once we were proud to have become stray and shulterless. Now the farmers from far places come and leave their oxen in the fair for dying of thirst and hunger. Such incidence are giving the reason why Nalwar fair is loosing its familiarity in surroundings and slowly and shortly leading to be closed.

People who leave their animals for dying are not only culprit of the constitution but also the culprit of God. The problem of stray animals are in the notice of government and government is paying attention to it by opening cowshed in different places. Of course the government has taken the initiative but a proper implementation is still required.