Government steps to protect cows, ‘help economy’

The Centre on Monday spelled out a slew of measures being planned to protect cows, including the creation of exclusive dairies for indigenous breeds and curbing illegal slaughtering and smuggling. A day-long seminar was held in this regard during which Union ministers Prakash Javadekar (environment) and Radha Mohan Singh (agriculture) said that the government will spare no effort to protect the bovine. They said that the protection of the animal is necessary as it is the “backbone” of the country’s economy. Another measure which is being planned to conserve gauvansh (cow clan) and gaushalas (cowsheds) is to produce cow fodder under MGNREGA.

The programme, however, was interrupted briefly by gau workers who protested and sloganeered against the “inadequate” infrastructure and funds for the protection of cows. A number of people in the audience alleged that no support was being received from the government. Both the ministers had to pacify them before going ahead with their speeches.

Mr Javadekar, while addressing participants from across the country, said his ministry is working on a plan to ensure that gauchar bhoomi (grazing land) is protected and government programmes like the NREGS be utilised to produce healthy grass for cows which can be subsequently given “free” to farmers and people who have livestock.

He added that various animal welfare boards in the country will be directed to take “immediate cognisance” of incidents like smuggling and cruelty to cows and send a report to his ministry in one or two months.

The three technical sessions that were organised focused on how to increase the milk productivity of Indian cows, making provision for feed, fodder and ancillary requirements for Indian cows and management of cows in the post-productive phase, the environment minister said.

The agriculture minister said his ministry has recently approved a proposal to create exclusive dairy plants for desi breed cows, also called A-2, in Orissa and Karnataka while plans are afoot to create the same facility in Haryana’s Karnal by this month-end.

“In the last two years our government has allocated Rs 582 crore for the National Gokul Mission as compared to the Rs 45 crore allocated for cow wealth conservation and development by the previous governments in their tenures,” Mr Singh said, adding, “The cow is the backbone of Indian economy...I can tell you that any farmer or Dalit who has a cow will not die of hunger.”

He added that the milk production in the country was increasing and the latest figures in this regard and during the year 2015-16 stood at 160.35 million tonnes.