Improvement of Indigenous Cattle: Gandhian Perspectives
“Humans need cows more than cows need humans. Cows need to be protected for humans to survive.” MK Gandhi
The indigenous cattle are the part of our tradition and culture since ages. Cows are considered as a part of family accorded with motherly status as “Gaumata” in Indian tradition. The ‘Lord Krishna’ was named as Gopal, which means one who protects cows. Ten important properties of cow milk have been stated in Charaka Samhita viz.“Svadu (sweet), sheetal (cool), mridu (soft), snigdha (unctuous), bahula (dense), shlakshna (smooth), pichcchil (viscous), guru (heavy), manda (low) and prasanna (pleasing). Several health benefits of cow milk such as enhancing tissue regeneration, and immune response for disease resistance and considered as a good food during convalescent period have been described in Ayurveda. India possesses large repository of cattle genetic resource diversity with a population of 193.46 million as per 20th Livestock census, which is 2nd highest in the world and showing an increase of 1.34% over previous Census. Cattle is the most prominent species of Indian Livestock with 36.04% share in Indian Livestock population. Crossbred / exotic purebred cattle constitute around 51.36 million showing an increase of 29.3% over the previous census, while the indigenous/non-descript constitute around 142.11 million showing a decrease of 6%. Out of total 74.59 million breedable cows, exotic/crossbred cows are 26.08 million and indigenous cows are 48.51 million. Presently, country has 50 registered cattle breeds distributed in their respective breeding tracts and can be classified according to their utility as milch (4), dual (10) and draft (36) and rest are non-descript desi cattle i.e., those which do not have definite or uniform characteristics like well-defined breeds. Theannual milk yield in India in 2018-19 was 187.75 million tonnes (Mt), of which 48% is contributed by the cattle (21% by the Indigenous cattle). Annual yield per cow in India is 1642.9 kg against the global average of 2430.2 kg (FAO 2017). The per capita availability of milk is 394 g day-1 and Punjab is at the top with an average availability of more than 1100 g. Apart from milk, Indian cattle also contribute towards draft power (30.77 million bullocks), and production of bio-manure, fuel, medicines and leather. The Indian cattle have capacity to withstand harsh climatic conditions making them economically suitable and sustainable in their habitats. These unique attributes of some of the Indian breeds have been used in the Latin American countries, Australia and southern parts of United States for crossbreeding with Bos taurus for beef and dairy production. Few countries have imported selected indigenous breeds and are maintaining improved zebu breeds, viz. Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal by Brazil, West Indies, Australia and Kenya, and Ongole breed by Brazil and Indonesia as purebreds for milk and meat. Considering the importance of Indian breeds, continuous efforts are being made by Govt. of India and ICAR for the genetic improvement of Indigenous cattle breeds through various breed improvement programmes. In 2009, cattle genome was fully mapped (Christine et al. 2009).
Gandhiji’s Views on Cow
For Mahatma Gandhi “Cow” had very high place in life and spirituality as he said, “The cow to me means the entire sub-human world extending man’s sympathies beyond his own species”. Another symbol in the Gandhian proto-ecological worldview is the cow. Gandhiji also described “The cow is a poem of pity; One reads pity in the gentle animal. She is the mother to millions of Indian mankind. Protection of the cow means protection of the whole dumb creation of God”. He further stressed upon the importance of the cow by saying that “cow in India was the best comparison; she was the giver of plenty. Not only did she give milk, but she also made agriculture possible”. He added that “Mother Cow is as useful dead as when she is alive. We can make use of every part of her body-her flesh, her bones, her intestines, her horns and her skin. Well, I say this not to disparage the mother who gives us birth, but in order to show you the substantial reasons for my worshipping the cow”. He was staunch supporter of cow protection and Gauseva. He saw the emergence of cow protection in Indian religion as “one of the most wonderful phenomena in human evolution. It takes the human being beyond this species”. The protection of cows is a passion with Gandhi as he said, “I would not kill a human being for the protection of a cow, as I will not kill a cow for saving a human life, be it ever so precious.” He believed that cow slaughter can never be stopped by law. Knowledge, education, and the spirit of kindliness towards her alone can put an end to it. Mahatma believed that cow can be saved without having to kill her off when she ceases to give the economic quantity of milk or when one becomes otherwise an uneconomic burden in following ways: 1) by the Hindus performing their duty towards the cow and her progeny: If they did so, our cattle would be the pride of India and the world. The contrary is the case today; 2) learning the science of cattle-breeding: Today there is perfect anarchy in this work; 3) replacing the present cruel method of castration by the humane method practiced in the West and 4) by thorough reform of the PINJRAPOLES (institutions for aged cows) of India, which are today, as a rule, managed ignorantly and without any plan by men who do not know their work. The excerpts from “And Gandhi Came Alive” by Megha Bajaj depict the vision of Gandhi for genetic improvement of cattle as it says, “Gandhi had always believed in scientific practicality. He had suggested to Manibhai Desai to take up cattle development to ensure a good supply of milk. Although India had the largest cattle population in the world, it had one of the lowest milk yields; from an economic point of view the average Indian cow was a liability to its owner. Good milk-yielding cows, he reasoned, could increase both the nutrition and the income of the local farmers. In 1948, he started a herd using the local Gir breed. The herd made an excellent progress that in 1953; the then Bombay state donated eight top quality heifers, one bull calf and one adult bull for the herd’s further improvement. From 1957 through 1962, the Urulikanchan Ashram’s cows captured first and second prizes for highest milk yield in the country. Manibhai Desai later founded the Bharatiya Agro-Industries Foundation (BAIF), which was registered as a Public Trust on August 22, 1967.
Gandhian Principles for Milk Co-operative
The Gosanwardhan Goras Bhandar, the milk cooperative in Wardha city started by Mahatma Gandhi in 1931, has proved that Gandhiji’s guidelines on how to run the operations helped in running the cooperative successfully. The Gosanwardhan Goras Bhandar is still continuing on the principles of Gandhiji. It offers a robust rate of Rs 36 per litre of milk to dairy farmers. The milk cooperative has formed 15 societies comprising about 1,000 farmers who rear cows. On average, 12,000-13,000 litres of cow milk is collected daily from farmers at a procurement price of Rs. 36 L-1. The milk brought by farmers is never rejected and purchase rate is constant. Operations at the dairy are fully manual, with zero use of machinery. The board of directors believes strongly in the Mahatma’s idea of production by masses and not production for masses. The cooperative doesn’t process milk but provides fresh milk to consumers in Wardha. It prepares goruspak (a sweet cake), ghee, peda, basundi, curd and paneer by order. Here, again, everything is manual, and a furnace, instead of gas stoves, is used for cooking. The cooperative is managed to run based on Gandhiji’s principles and no money is taken from any government.
By- BN Tripathi, MS Chauhan, A Mukherjee,VK Saxena and V Bhasin
Source-Mahatma Gandhi’s Vision of Agriculture: Achievements of ICAR
Compiled & Shared by- This paper is a compilation of groupwork provided by the
Team, LITD (Livestock Institute of Training & Development)
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Reference-On Request.
