A PEEP INTO THE COW BASED RURAL ECONOMY IN INDIA
Compiled, & shared by-DR. RAJESH KUMAR SINGH, (LIVESTOCK & POULTRY CONSULTANT), JAMSHEDPUR Post no 1390Dt 05/09//2019
JHARKHAND,INDIA 9431309542, rajeshsinghvet@gmail.com
Few days ago there was a trending news on the social media regarding a statement given by Hon. Central Minister of Animal husbandry & fishery, Shri Griraj singh when he spoke in a meeting that the Modi govt. is going to start a factory for female calf Pan India theough application of AI & IVF technology.Some reputed electronics media houses of India take this word as mockery, as they (Media houses) are not aware of this technology .Here in this post I have tried to throw some light on the cow based rural economy in India.
We all know that our nation India has about more than 70 percent area in rural. 60 percent of the nation’s population directly or indirectly depends on agriculture. So, Agriculture is the backbone of India’s economy.
Bos Indicus or Zebu cattle breeds which are the humped cattle, found in the Indian sub-continent are thought to be the world’s oldest domesticated cattle. There are differing views about the exact origin of the Indian cattle breeds and as to whether or not they were brought into India by the Aryans or existed in the country even prior to that. According to some historians, the abundant remains of humped bulls in every stratum of the archaeological site at Mohenjodaro, indicate that “ the Indus Valley must have been specially rich in this fine breed of cattle.
Whatever the origin, the fact remains that the cow has been a cornerstone of Indian agriculture for centuries and has served as source of nutrition for farmer’s families through milk and milk products, as well as providing draught animal power for both agricultural operations such as ploughing and tilling the land, as well as for transportation of goods. Nearly all basic necessities of life were woven around the cow, with contributions in all aspects of life, including farming and manure, food and nourishment, transport, fuel (burning of dried cow dung cakes and medicinal usage of cow dung and cow urine.
Cow in Ancient India———-
Tracing the history of this magnificent creature, we turned to ancient India till present times. Indian indigenous cow was worshiped in India since ancient times, due to many scientific reasons. Agriculture was the major economic force of India and almost every major Indian festival was related to a agriculture activity.
Indian Cow has been a symbol of wealth for people of India. The cow dung has been used as source of fuel and fertilizer for Indian farmers. It was all organic and produced high yielding crops. Cow was the only base of sustainable agriculture with environment friendly practices. In fact, cow was regarded more than gold at that time. Krishna used to herd cows and had very high regard for them. Guru Nanak Dev Ji also spent a lot of time to herd cows.
Indian Cow’s Milk = Mother’s Milk—–
On the other hand, the milk of Indian cow is found to be most nourishing. It is advised by doctors that infants should drink milk of his/her mother only. Cow, being a mammal gives milk for her calves but it shares her milk with the people for there welfare. Today we can make curd, cream, butter, and around 30 more food items with milk. Due to cross breeding today, there are two types of milk that cows give now – A1 & A2. The primitive cows in India have got A2 protein which has same quality and nutrition as mother’s milk. Hence the status of mother or Gau Mata was given to her.
Cow was considered part of one’s family. Ralph Fitch,merchant of England and one of the earliest English travelers to India wrote a letter home in 1580 stating, “They have a very strange order among them – they worship a cow and esteem much of the cow’s dung to paint the walls of their houses … They eat no flesh, but live by roots and rice and milk.”
Mughal Period———
When Mughals came to India, they had a tradition of killing goats and sheep as sacrifice on Bakri-Eid. Cow was new to them as there were no cows in Arab countries. Slowly, they began to sacrifice cow. But later all the Mughal rulers prohibited killing of cows except Aurangzeb. He was considered to be the most cruel ruler among Mughals. The last Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar also banned the cow slaughter.
British destroyed Indian Economic Growth——
When British came to India and explored all over the subcontinent, they found that they cannot rule the country directly. Indian economy was strongly held by Indian cow and Organic Agriculture and Indian education system was fully based on values, science, Gurukul system deeply rooted in the culture. Governor of British India Robert Clive made an extensive research on the agriculture here. He found that :
• Cows were the basis of Indian agriculture and agriculture in India cannot be executed without the help of cow.
• To break the Backbone of Indian agriculture cows had to be eliminated.
Slaughter House during British Rule———-
So the first slaughterhouse in India was started in 1760 in Kolkata, which killed about 30,000 Indian cows per day, so at least one crore cows were eliminated in an year’s time. It was used by British soldiers as food or traded to England. Beef became the main food of British in India. When Indian agriculture faced a backslash, they introduced commercial farming full of chemicals and fertilizers and made it another industry of trade. They destroyed the complete economic system of India by this action. Also to completely stop growth of Indian indigenous cows, they imported jersey and cross bred with Indian breeds of cows.
Indian Cow vs Jersey————
Today most of the dairies across India produce milk from Jersey cows. Jersey breeds cannot be considered as cows, as these are originally a breed of a wild animal named URUS. People of Europe hunted this wild animal for good quality and quantity of meat. Shocking fact is that even today the milk of these animals are not used directly for consumption in Europe because the milk of these animals contain a poisonous chemical called CASOMORPHINE. At this point of time, saving Indian indigenous cow is the matter of urgency for nation’s health because no food is complete without milk.
Congress Election Symbol————
After 1947, Indian National Congress used cow and her calf as there party election symbol during Indira Gandhi’s time to connect with Indian masses. That very Congress has starting hating Cows today just for the sake of vote bank.Also from 350 slaughter houses in India in 1947, it has increased to more than 36000 today. In 1947, population of India was 30 crores and cows were about 120 crores. As per 2014, there are 120 crore people and just 20 crore cows left in India. India is the highest exporter of beef in the world as per 2015. Ignorant experts of economics fail to understand the value of alive cow. A live cow can generate 100 times more money by her valuable products than dead. Just one cow can fertilize one acre of land. If a farmer just spend one-third of the total money he spend on fertilizers, he can keep the cow and also produce high yielding crops which has double the output value, both in terms of quality and quantity.
The unemployment rate in India during 1993-94 was 6.0%, which has been increased to 6.1% in the year 2017-2018. 75% of the population out of these is from rural sector. This is primarily because of the present practice of shredding excess labour, increased capital intensity per unit output and pattern moving towards capital intensive sector. The employment generated by organized sector is only 8%, while the rest 92% is generated by unorganized sector. So, the future employment strategy is to encourage the use of labour intensive and capital saving technology. Special attention should be given to small, medium and micro enterprises in the villages and rural industries, the areas identified for employment generation. Agriculture having little capacity to absorb surplus labour now, the rural population began to migrate to urban areas, creating numerous social, economic and hygienic complications. The trend increased with the rapid growth of population and subsequent quick expansion in the availability of machine made manufacturing. This created, apart from the aforesaid problems, much more intensity in the cities. It also led economic and social injustice between men, society and regions (Bhattacharya 1980). The above aforesaid problems direct us to generate more employment opportunities and avenues in rural areas. At the same time (keeping in mind the constraints) the employment opportunities should be such, which are economically viable, eco friendly in nature (to achieve sustainability), technologically feasible and socially acceptable. Agriculture is the most important sector of the Indian economy from the perspective of poverty alleviation and employment generation. Agriculture contributes close to a ¼ of India’s national income, though the share has deceased from 56.5 % in 1950-51 to 24.3 % in 2001-02. The percentage of workforce engaged in agriculture has declined from 76 % in 1961 to 60 % in 1999- 2000. Industrial growth of the country largely depends on agricultural production.
Therefore, the balanced mixture of modernity and tradition in the real sense will facilitate the development of a nation. The results will be fruitful if we combine both modern science and traditional science and get best out of them. No economy can really be beneficial in making country great unless it takes into consideration of the social and ethical well being of the nation. We have neglected the importance of cow and her products due to modernization, industrialization and influence of western culture. But, once again the whole world is realizing the importance of her immense potentialities. She can prove to be a boon in the areas of agriculture, science and technology, industry, energy, medicine etc for the development of any nation, in addition being eco-friendly in nature. Thus panchgavya (cow milk, curd, ghee, cow urine and cow dung) and its products can form the basis for revitalization of rural economy. In India the total cow breed population is estimated up to 17 crores. The average production of cow urine/day/cow is 5-6 litres and of cow dung/day/cow is 10-12 kilograms. In total approximately 95-102 crore litres of cow urine and 170-204 crore kilograms of cow dung is produced everyday. Very small proportion of this production is utilized these days. Proper utilization of cow dung and cow urine into manure, pesticides, medicines and other daily products can generate millions of employment opportunities in rural areas as well it can protect soil from chemicals and fertilizers and improve soil fertility. The whole cow based integrated cycle is environmentally friendly. Increasing awareness about ill effects of chemicals and pesticides in quality, taste and other properties of agricultural produce all over the world indicates that people prefer buying organic food products and in future higher prices of agricultural produce can only be fetched with organically produced materials. While input cost is less in organic farming at the same time selling cost is higher for such produce. It has also been established at many places in our country that in this way yield is not reduced. This is the only way for agriculture to sustain in long future. Traditionally organic agriculture is very rich and time tested (scientific) practice in India and therefore, agriculture survived here for last five thousand years. The large quantity of organic manure can also be produced in village having large number of animals. Vermi compost, pesticides and herbicides can be prepared by cow urine & cow dung and neem leaves formulations in large quantity at village level. Day by day draught animals are becoming burden on farmers and are proving uneconomical. This will also explore the avenues for the use of bullocks to run animal drawn tractor, generator and carts, which are eco friendly, sustainable and economical way to perform different agriculture practices, electricity and transportation which will enhance their utilization hours. And also the dung could be utilized for biogas production, which will provide bio-manure and bio-energy on a sustainable basis. This will also help to establish animal-human-agriculture synergy to sustainable development.
PLAN OF WORK FOR SUSTAINABLE RURAL ECONOMY—–
for holistic development of rural area via effectively utilizing the resources from cow rearing.
Rearing cow (Dairying)——–
1. Milk—— Direct income by selling raw milk/protection from malnutrition Making various milk products and further selling in near by market.
2. Dung ———-Biogas generation for their own energy application • Cooking food • Lighting and electricity • Engine operation for irrigation pump sets.
3. Urine ———-cow urine distillate fraction for making various medicines and bio-pesticides.
4. Biogas Digested dung ———-Enriched manure- organic farming, Growing quality crops and medicinal plants;
5. Cultivation of medicinal and herbal plant———– Additional income generation and local health care
6. Bullock ———Efficient utilization of animal power
MANAGEMENT OF COW BASED RESOURCES
Uses for Cow Dung—————-
1. Fuel – cow dung patties (goottee) for cooking
2. Fertilizer – composting makes it even more powerful.
3. Heat source – cow dung is naturally hot -compost makes hotter put in glass house to heat glass house or run pipes thru it to get hot water.
4. Purifier – natural antiseptic qualities
5. Floor coating – used mixed with mud and water on floors in mud houses. Improves water absorption of mud. Prevents muddy puddles resulting from spilt water.
6. Mud brick additive – improves resistance to disintegration
7. Skin tonic – mixed with crushed neem leaves smeared on skin – good for boils and heat rash (SP used it for heat rash in Mayapur.)
8. Smoke producer – smoldering cow patties keep away mosquitoes. Can also make smoked paneer over such smoke. Tastes great in pasta!
9. Ash – from patties used in cooking-Pot cleaner – used dry, absorbs oil and fat; wet, as a general cleaner.
10. Brass polisher – tamarind removes oxidation – wet ashes polishes.
11. Fertilizer – alkaline – cow dung ash is basically lime with a few other minerals mixed into it.
12. Mud additive – dries up slippery mud puddles. Mud brick additive – mud and lime (cow dung ashes) becomes like cement
13. Pond PH balancer – thrown into pond neutralizes acid.
14. Tooth polish
15. Sun-dried organic recreational-aerodynamic-device -cow patty Frisbees;
16. Fan for fire – large cow patties can be used as make-shift fans.
17. Deity worship – ingredient in pancha gavya
18. Seed protector- covering seeds in dung before planting helps to protect against pests.
19. Fresh Cow urine taken thirty days straight is an ayurvedic remedy for Brights disease.
20. Disposable camphor lamps for use during fire sacrifices.
21. Another use of cow pies (and camel dung) mix with fresh water till you have a paste and apply to skin diseases. It seems to work to ease the Itching of psoriasis.
22. If you soak your feet in cow urine it will cure athletes feet.
23. Fresh, less than hours old cow urine seems to have some helpful effect on teen age pimple eruptions. Wipe on face before going to bed. That is in an old herbal book I found??? wash off in the morning!
24. Smoke from Cow-dung or coal actually increases our eyelids to close & open so many times & lot of water from the eyes comes out & the advantage is that it increases the vision life of a person to old age also.
25. For seed-raising –
26. I also use cow dung on insect stings let it dry and then wash with hot soapy water.
27. Cow urine can be used for stones (kidney, gall etc.) shot glass full first thing in the morning fresh from the cow for 21 days (uric acid in cow urine dissolves these stones to a manageable size.
28. Apparently, the traditional Indian village system of wiping the floor daily with a mixture of water and fresh cow dung assures that flies will not settle there.
29.Dr. Laxmi Narain Modi in his presentation for the Livestock Policy Perspective 2020 July 5-7 1995, held in India stated:
“Dung and urine from cows and bulls (cattle) are essential for organic manure (OM) which is used in the construction of new houses, frequent coating of floors and walls of mud houses to protect from insects, and as a base for bio-gas programs. There are innumerable other uses for traditional medicines.”
30. Urine was used to bleach wool in the middle ages up until sixty years ago.
31. Cow urine used to restart a biogas plant that has “stalled” when the biocomposting won’t start or fizzles out in mid process then it can be jump started by adding ammonia (a BI -product of urine).
31. The dung ashes makes excellent tooth power.
32. A good “cement” is made by mixing dung with water and mixing with dirt. The salt in the dung keeps the moisture in the “cement ” from drying out as easily and the “Cement” feels cool and almost damp and lowers the temp in a well insulated house by ten or twelve degrees.
32. Molding fresh pies into various shapes like rabbits and frogs and selling them as art / fertilization art. Place in a flower pot and a little fertilizer leaches out with each watering and the Poo pet slowly dissolves into the soil.
33. If you make a biogas composer you can cook off the gas from the dung then when all the gas has been used up, you still have excellent compost in liquid form to place on your garden.
34. To break the parasite infestation whenever possible collect and place all dung and urine from all animal and human sources in a bio-gas generator. The digester turns the dung into sterile compost all worms et killed, and as a by product produces a gas called methane which is half as hot as propane but you can still use it to cook or run a generator to produce electricity. It is free and cleans up the area the finished product is essentially sterile and can be spread on crops as an excellent fertilizer.
Utilization of Biogas for Cooking and Lighting———
The group of 10 cows (milking and non-milking) will produces daily 100-125 kg dung. • This is sufficient to produce 4 m3 biogas daily. • One person needs 0.24 m3 biogas daily for cooking food (5 person requires 1.2 m3 biogas daily). • One mantle lamp of 100 candle power needs 0.13 m3 biogas/h (for 4 h lighting 0.52 m3 biogas requirement). • Total biogas requirement for cooking and lighting is 1.72 m3 biogas daily for a family of 5 members. • Along with above 1 kWh electricity can be generated from 0.75 m3 biogas. • Biogas plant of 4 m3 per day capacity is sufficient to meet the daily cooking lighting and other heating requirement of a family having 5 members. Biogas plant: A 4 m3 /day capacity KVIC type biogas plant will be constructed at beneficiary’s home site to meet his requirement.
Slurry management ———
Along with 4 cubic metre biogas 30 kg dry slurry will be produced daily. This will amount 10.95 tonnes per year per biogas plant. It is proposed that this biogas spent slurry is used for organic farming and cultivation of medicinal plants.
Production of Cow based Fertilizers and Pesticides ————-
Traditionally organic farming has been the agricultural practice in India. Intake of toxic substances in human beings and animals has increased due to chemical inputs in agriculture. People are now seriously concerned with the protection of our environment and even more about safeguarding their health. Cattle will not only supply the dung and the urine for the making of compost and pesticide but will also produce milk, which is the raw material for wide range of dairy products. Organic farming automatically leads to the diversification of farm activity. For, small marginal farmers, organic farming is most suitable as considerable integration is possible and appreciable cost savings could be achieved through recycling of waste and other materials that are available within the system. One of the major advantages of organic farming therefore is that both the farmer and the government are able to minimize expenditure, and in particular, the farmer is able to make environmental friendly compost without heavy outlays. Even if some farmers would have to buy organic manure the price indeed will be very low as this produced out of what are called today waste materials. Specialists say that organic manure will prevent weed growth, as against chemical manure, which stimulate weeds. In the present circumstances many farmers use chemicals to keep weed in check. Going back to the natural methods of farming has benefits, which are self-reinforcing. It creates a safer environment for both the consumer and the producer. Organic farming produces healthy plants and safeguards the health of animals because the grass that the cattle feed is not fertilized by chemical nutrients. One of the most important considerations is that organic farming can be deployed everywhere and in any kind of agriculture in the country, irrespective of where the land is situated and it is applicable to all crops without exception. Cow based fertilizers and pesticides are organic in nature and will help in restoring, maintaining and enhancing the ecological balance. The potential estimated is 600 million tones of wet dung contains about 4.2 million tonnes of nitrogen, about 2.1 million tonnes of phosphorus and about 2.1 million tonnes of potash. The combined value of these three fertilizer elements from inorganic sources would come over 3,500 crores of rupees at current fertilizer prices. A successful experiment has been conducted in Goseva Kendra at Wardha. In consultation with fifteen villages they began biological farming. Earlier they had to spend Rs 5100/- on chemical fertilizers for one hectare of land. Now it has come down to Rs 3100/-. In the same time their health is also improved.
Production of Panchgavya and Its Products ————-
The cow is the representative of the world, which is full of goodness, affection, attitude, mercy and sacrifice. It also gives its five products. But, for petty economical and tangible gains of little number of people, it has resulted in cruelty, exploitation and massacre of useful animal. All of these are going to slaughterhouses. It is therefore necessary to blend science and tradition and place the facts before the people and save this precious species for the welfare and survival of the human beings. Once the scientific and economic importance is realized, people will automatically take care of national economy, cow breed. Hence, panchgavya and its products have a great potential to form sustainable entrepreneurship, which thereby leads to form sustainable economy. As the world is becoming sensitive towards issues of environment, ecology and chemical in agriculture, the new era has come to think the alternative for chemical fertilizers, pesticides, petroleum products and environment destruction parameters. Rural areas development and sustainable agriculture an take place based on “Goshala” (cowherd) centre based biogas electricity generating system, rural industrial complex, bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides using cowdung and cow-urine (Vijay 2002). The average production of cow urine/day/cow is 5-6 litres. In total approximately 95-102 Crore litres of cow urine is produced everyday. Proper management of cow dung and cow urine can save precious foreign exchange and provide with pollution free energy and thereby maintaining ecological balance. Cow urine has been described to be the most effective substance or secretion of animal origin with innumerable therapeutic values. In ayurveda cow urine is suggested for improving general health. It was found that “ cow urine distillate fraction” enhanced the potency of taxol (pactitaxel) against MCF-7 a human breast cancer cell line in in-vitro assays(US patent No. 6410059). (Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, 2002). Many research institutions are concerned with carrying out the examinations related to medicinal medicinal and chemical properties of panchgavya. Some of the important properties recognized by Go-Vidhyan Anusandhan Kendra, Devalapur are as follows(, but the research is still going on). A total of 50-60 litre cow urine will be produced daily in every dairy which has to be utilized for cow urine distillate and making pesticides and medicines.
Production of Cow Milk and Its Products ————–
Milk is always considered ideal food for infants and children and a good supplementary food for adults as it supplies good quality protein, calcium and vitamins particularly vitamin A, riboflavin, niacin, and folic acid. In addition, milk contains several bio-protective molecules that secure health security to humans. There seems to be no adequate substitute of milk. The cow milk is the most important of all these animals as supplier of food nutrients (Chakravarty I. and Ghosh K., 2002). Nutrients content per 100 gm Cow’s Milk Protein(3.2 gms), Fat (4.1 gms), Carbohydrates(4.4 gms), Calcium(120 mg), Phosphorous(90 mg), Iron(0.2 mg), Carotene(53 mg), Thiamine(0.05 mg), Riboflavin(0.19 mg), Niacin(0.10 mg), Folic acid(8.5 mg), Vitamin C(2 mg ), Energy: 67 Kcal Milk has a very good quality protein and the biological value is over 90. Though milk contains only 3-4 % protein, due to the rich quality of protein and the amount that can be in ingested and the presence of other nutrients, makes it indispensable. Lysine is one of the essential amino acid, which is abundant in milk protein. Cheese, khoa and dehydrated milk powders are concentrated forms hence contain high amount of nutrients per unit. The fat of milk is easily digestible. It contains linolenic acid (0.5%) and arachidonic acid (0.12%). Diary foods are a major source of calcium because of significant amount of minerals present. The calcium: phosphorous ratio (1.2:1) in milk is regarded as most favourable for bone development. In addition dairy products contain other nutrients such as vitamin D and lactose, which favour calcium absorption. Milk is not only used as such but many products, fermented and non-fermented are used in cookery. Various forms in which milk can be consumed are:
Unfermented products —————
Skimmed milk —-
is deficient in fat and fat-soluble vitamins but the protein, sugar, minerals and vitamin B factors (except pyrodoxine) are well preserved. If skimmed milk powder is supplemented with vitamin A, D and pyridoxine, it is a comparatively cheap food of high nutritive value. It is helpful for the treatment of malnutrition, the nephritic syndrome and the cirrhosis of liver. The addition of about 6 tablespoons of skimmed milk powder during the preparation of chapattis, custard, curd, etc will supply an additional 35 gms of protein. Toned milk is prepared by mixing equal parts of fresh buffalo milk (rich in fat) and reconstituted skimmed milk powder. The fat, protein, carbohydrate, vitamin and mineral contents – and thus the nutritive value – are the same as fresh cow’s milk. It is a useful source of proteins for malnourished children and pregnant women.
Khoa(Mava)——–
is milk in which the water content is reduced to between 20% and 25%. It is prepared by vigorously boiling milk and stirring it continuously to avoid burning at the bottom or overflowing at the top. When cooled, khoa forms a uniform mass, containing fats, heatcoagulated proteins and lactose. Khoa supplies 82 Kcal per tablespoon.
Chhana(cottage cheese)—–
is prepared by adding lemon juice to boiling milk; this precipitates casein, lactalbumin and fat. The liquid part (whey) is strained through cloth and chhana is collected. Whey is a byproduct of butter and cheese production and is frequently discarded. However, when dried it can be preserved, and forms a good source of nutrition in poorer countries.
Fermented Products
Dahi(Curd):
The mode of preparation of dahi varies considerably, as does its flavour. The flavour depends upon the type of lactic acid organisms predominant in the starter. It has same calorie value as that of milk from which it has been prepared.
Yoghurt
is the name given to milk cuddled by a specific type of lactic acid bacillus called Lactobacillus bulgaricus.
Lassi(Butter Milk):
When dahi is churned with water and fat is removed, the residual acid buttermilk is called lassi. Dahi and lassi can be prepared from whole or skimmed milk.
Ghee (Clarified butter: Butter-fat):
The composition of cow and buffalo ghee is similar: 99% fat, mostly saturated; about 1114 µgm vitamin A per 100 gms, varying with cattle feed and the freshness; and about 30 µgm vitamin D per 100 gms, varying with the exposure of cattle to the sunshine.
Cheese Cottage:
Cheese is an unfermented milk product, but cheese produced commercially in the west is fermented product. There are over 400 varieties of cheese.
Production of Daily/Domestic Use Products——
Everyone uses the wide range of domestic/daily use products. These products consume a lot of energy and money for its manufacture and the process also pollutes the environment. They are all chemical based and has long term negative side effects. Cow dung and cow urine can be used for the manufacture of wide range of domestic products mainly phenyl, mosquito repellent coil, agarbatti (fuming stick), distemper, dental powder, bathing soap, cleansing powder, shampoo, face pack etc. These can go a long way towards sustainable entrepreneurship having high market value returns.
ORGANIC FARMING, CULTIVATION OF HERBS & MEDICINAL PLANTS AND RURAL HEALTH CARE
New activities like Alge bio-fertilizer, compost and vermin-compost manure, natural pesticide (Bio-mass), vermin-culture and some agro processing units should be harnessed so as to reduce dependency on the organized sectors of chemical fertilizers and pesticides etc. Income accruing from these activities does not get transferred to the urban areas but remain available with in rural communities. India is a land of species and country is blessed with appropriate soil and climatic condition for various type of aromatic and medicinal plants, i.e., rose, tube rose, jasmine, germanium lavender guggual, peri winckle, etc., while species constitute and important group of agricultural commodities and play significant role in our national economy. Seventy percent of India’s population lives in villages. With the production of consumer articles passing on more and more to organized sectors, because of our age old traditional techniques of production which are now no more remunerative and do not fulfill the present need of local area and outside market demand resulting many of the village industries and handicrafts works have been hit severely, throwing a large number of people out of livelihood. More and more people are being forced to abandon their ancestrial agro and other occupation. There are mainly artisans (landless) and small and marginal farm holdings. Through the importance of entrepreneurship for economic development has been recognized long back but systematic efforts were not made to check whatever the uneven pace of economic growth in different sector. Agriculture and various activities related to it were given employment to 68.8% of the Indian population. It is also well known that the non-agricultural income in rural areas is negligible.
The net result has been the break down of the village economy forcing migration to the cities creating the series of problems. Hence, it is necessary to take up new income generating activities to check the large scale and to minimize the migration to cities. Therefore, to create employment opportunity and to maintain better livelihood in rural areas, integrated cycle of cow is a fit answer. Based on the cycle income level of a family can be raised to a satisfactory level.
To provide sustainable employment and better livelihood in rural areas are the major thrust areas in the country today. To achieve these goals, there is need to develop a holistic approach in which local resources are utilized efficiently by rural masses for the benefit of weaker sections of the society i.e small and marginal farmers, women, SC/ST and unemployed youth. With little training and efforts the proposed project of integrated cycle of cow raises per capita income of rural families and able to generate enough employment to stop migration. Indigenous cow is the focal point of the project with all backward forward linkages. With the implementation of the project, a family is able to earn around Rs. 1.15 lakh per year and a total of more than 10 persons will get direct employment and around 30 persons will get indirect employment in a village. This project fits in the rural employment guarantee scheme launched by the Govt. of India in February 2006
Why Gandhiji fusses over the Cow?
(By Bharatan Kumarappa)
Once Smt. Aruna Asaf Ali raised a question which no doubt evoked sympathy in the minds of many. It was as to why we should trouble ourselves about the cow, when we have enough problems to tackle relating to man. Gandhiji’s brief reply was that if he bothered about the cow, it was because he saw that many problems relating to man in our country could not be solved except with reference to the cow. This answer deserve to be expanded and explained, if we are gain an understanding of the issue involve.
India is an agricultural country, with about 300 millions of its population depending on agriculture for their livelihood. For them the cow is more than their right hand, since without the aid of bullocks which the cow provides, ploughing, irrigating, weeding, harvesting, threshing, carting and marketing will be next to impossible. Bullocks are necessary for carrying on village industries like oil-pressing, At present these animals, which provide the motive power in agriculture and village industries, are weak, starved and diseased. How can people in our villages become prosperous so long as they have to depend on such a feeble instrument for eking out a livelihood ? The bullock is the villager’s machine. If a man is struggling with an inefficient machine which requires repairing and overhauling, who would say, “Why bother with the machine ? Help the man”. The best way of helping him is to provide him with an efficient machine.
To this our city-educated youth may reply- “If the bullock is inefficient, scrap it, and use the tractor and other modern devices.” The only difficulty about accepting this advice is that it is impracticable under present conditions. It is of no use telling us what should be done at some future date. We have to face the problems of our people today, and suggest means of improving their condition under present circumstance and within the resources now available to them. Which villager can afford a tractor and other modern agricultural machinery ? The bulk of them can hardly obtain a meal a day. It is like asking a clerk earning Rs.25/- a month to go to his office in a Rolls Royce. Marvelous idea, only it is unworkable. But it may be thought that though the average cultivator in India cannot afford tractors, a Zamindar can, and the peasant can use the Zamindar’s tractors. This, however, would mean, so far as the peasant goes, a condition ten times worse than at present, for at least now he is to a limited extent independent to till the soil as best as he can. But if he has to do away with his bullocks and use the Zamindar’s tractor he can do so only by becoming even more dependent than at present on the Zamindar for his instruments of production, and this means for him a step nearer to slavery. If, on the other hand, it is thought that peasants can pool their financial resources and by modern agricultural machinery co-operatively and use them co-operatively, then the difficulty is that today the co-operative movement is not being run by the villagers themselves, and the people have neither the capacity nor only in regard to the needed capital, but also in order to pool their land resources together, for their land is at present in tiny fragments, which are far too small for a tractor. Modern agricultural machinery is useful where there are hundreds of acres to be cultivated at a stretch. The peasant has very often only one or two acres in his ownership or control. To pool all these fragments together and to work them co-operatively is beyond his powers today.
Even later, it may not be wise for him to adopt tractors and mechanical devices in agriculture. They are useful in countries with a small population and vast areas to be cultivated. The situation in India is just the reverse. If we adopt machines to replace human beings in agriculture, where shall our people go for employment ? As it is, large scale industries are not able to absorb more than about two million and people are therefore even more increasingly being driven to agriculture for a live hood. But if agriculture also is mechanised, it too will not be able to provide work except for a few millions, and what is to happen to the rest of our 400 million people ?
Besides, mechanization involves fuel, of which we have only a limited supply in our country.
Further, it is said that artificial, manures like Chemicals, which we shall have to resort to, if in the place of bullocks we took to tractors and other machinery, are definitely injurious to the soil. They stimulate the soil and make it produce much for the time being, but only to leave it in the end exhausted and impoverished. They are also said to cause disease in crops and in animals. This is the experience of Sir Albert Howard, formerly Economic Botanist to the Govt. of India. He is definitely of the opinion, elaborated in his book called As Agricultural Testament that the only manure which can permanently enrich the soil and help healthy growth in plants and animals is organic, i.e. the cattle dung and urine, human excreta, and waste vegetable matter. If this is so, then cattle will be required in agriculture, not only for labour but also for the valuable manure they provide.
For these reasons, then it would seem best for us not to be allured into following the way of mechanised agriculture but to fall back on the bullock for motive power. If we do so, the cow which provides the bullock must occupy a central place in our national economy.
Consider further, many of us, whether for religious other reasons, are vegetarians, and do not wish to be a party slaughter of animals for food. Being vegetarians, we require milk and milk products to supplement the deficiencies of an exclusively vegetarian diet. We must therefore have some animals which will provide us milk. What is better than the cow, the mother of the bullock which we need for our agriculture? If we look after it well, it will provide us milk for our sustenance and bullocks for doing our work.
Instead of this, the modern tendency in India is to depend on the buffalo for milk. But the he-buffalo is comparatively useless for work in the fields. So it is slaughtered. Similarly, since the cow is wanted only for the sake of its bullocks, it is sent off to the slaughter-house no sooner then it has calved, and the calf has been weaned, for it is too expensive to feed the cow till its next calving. Thus under this method both the buffalo and the cow are slaughtered.
This can be avoided if we maintain only the cow, and obtain both our milk and our bullock from it. To do this will also be cheaper from the national view point, for we shall then have to maintain only one animal for both the purposes instead of two as at present.
Further, the bullock which we want from the cow will be stronger and of a better quality, for the cow will be better looked after and fed when we depend on it for milk.
Other reasons which may be given in favour of the cow for supply of milk as against the buffalo are(a) that cow’s milk is more conducive to health than buffalo’s as it has more vitamin B, and has in addition vitamin E which is absent in buffalo milk, (b) that the Carotene (vitamin A) value of cow’s ghee is ten times as high as that of buffalo ghee, (c) that the cow is less liable to disease than the buffalo, (d) that it matures a year earlier, (e) that its dry period, i.e. from the time it ceases to give milk to the time it calves again, is three times shorter than that of the buffalo, (f) that its milk yield is not affected adversely by heat and cold as the buffalo’s and (g) that the cow does not require as much grazing ground, feeding and water as the buffalo.
The deterioration in the cow and its bullock is precisely because we have departed from the old practice of looking to the cow as giver of plenty. Even with all its deterioration, the Indian cow, through centuries of careful breeding, is any day superior to its Western counterpart. The fat content of the milk of the Indian cow is rarely less than 4.5 per cent while British cows yield milk of 3.5 per cent fat content only. Besides, the Indian cow can live on lithe meager fodder locally available, can resist disease and withstand the tropical heat much better than the British cow. The solution therefore to the question of improving the present condition of our cattle is not to cross the local cow with foreign breeds which, as a matter of fact, has proved disastrous, for the mixed breeds cannot stand the poor feeding and the climate, nor can they provide us bullocks capable of doing hard work -but to restore the cow to the central place it once held, as the giver of milk and the mother of the bullock.
It is calculated that through its milk, bullocks, manure, hide and bone, the contribution of the cow to the wealth of India is over Rs. 1,000/- crores annually, an amount which no other industry in India except agriculture can be equal. Gandhiji has therefore established the Go Seva Sangh (association for looking after the cow ) to devote its attention on a countrywide scale to the improvement of the condition of cattle in India. Is Gandhiji wrong then to draw our attention to this most important national industry, and to show us the way to make it yield better results ?
23.6.46 N.I.P.P
