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CATTLE-PRESERVATION:
'MUST' FOR INDIA'S AGRICULTURE
*A note presented by
Shree K.
C. Shroff - Chairman of Excel Industries Ltd. for the consideration of the
national seminar
India after independence has no doubt made tremendous progress
in several fields and  has succeeded in overcoming
many baffling crises.
Nevertheless, the basic
economic problems of the people such as
poverty, unemployment etc.
remain unsolved. These basic problems unless they are
solved satisfactorily, are on the other hand giving rise to more and more
serious and complicated problems. Our Government as well as the
enlightened sections of the people are justifiably worried over
them
.
According to our study
and assessment, the right and lasting solution to these
basic problems can be had only
by placing agriculture at the centre of
entire economic rebuilding. It is, therefore, very much heartening
to know that the present Government of India have proposed to accord
due importance to agriculture. In spite of spectacular progress
achieved by the country in several spheres,
a sort of imbalance resulting in acute problems and
several tensions in polity has crept in. This is in our
opinion very largely on account of failure to comprehend the true
role of a agriculture in India's life.
Agriculture in India has to Serve Two-fold Purpose:
1. Feeding the growing population of the country till eternity and supply raw materials for basic
necessities of the
life.
2. Providing for livelihood and
sustenance to the crores of rural population.
These two
functions of agriculture are mutually
complimentary and inalienable from each other, and importance
and urgency of none can be either ignored or minimized. And cows and
bullocks are in the very center
of agriculture. Any attempt
to elaborate the importance is very
much like carrying coal to Newcastle. Nevertheless in view of
the apathy and ill-conceived policy towards them resulting in
destruction and degeneration of our valuable breeds some relevant
points need recapitulation.
- Cow in India has
been described as the giver of plenty. This
is no emotionalism or aphorism. But the
whole truth. This has been
confirmed by the Supreme Court, as it observes in the
judgment of 1958 in connection with the case
Md. Hanif Qureshi Vz. the State of Bihar:
"They (cows) sustain the health of the
nation by giving life - giving milk....., the working bullocks are
indispensable for our agriculture, ...The dung of the
animal is cheaper than artificial manures. The
cow and her progeny are extremely
useful, in short, the backbone of Indian agriculture.
The Highest Court in its judgment
quotes Lord Linligthow, the British Viceroy,
who had aptly said, "Cow has
on her patient back the whole structure of
Indian agriculture. "
It needs to be
emphasized that the basic reality remains unchanged even
after the industrialization has taken place.
- It is
imperative for us to see
the things in long range
perspective and clearly comprehend that there
can be no substitute for
cattle. As for the supply of milk,
importance of cow is
self evident. The bullocks
also are equally indispensable, and
mass-scale mechanized
farming is simply
impossible in view of
following constraints:
(a) Our 62% of rural population
possess holdings less  than half an acre and 70% of the farmers have
holdings less tan two hectares. They cannot afford to have tractors
and other allied implements. Any forcible amalgamation of their
holdings to form viable farms for mechanized farming
and thereby reducing the farmers to
wage-earners is an impossible task.
(b) Even so, roughly seven million
tractors will be required for our nearly 40 crore acre farm-land,
while only about ten lacs of them are available at
present. Our country cannot afford to manufacture
them on mass-scale to switch over to mechanized
farming, since
nearly 30m. tons of iron-steel
will be required for their manufacture, leave alone the problem of
capital needed. Our annual production of iron-steel is nearly 5 m.
tons only, which is used largely for defence purposes,
manufacture of
railways, planes and ships and machines for other industries etc.
(c) In our agricultural operations,
animal power constitutes 66%, man-power (manual labor) 20% and
petroleum and electricity power 14% of total energy consumption. To
replace animal power with mineral oils will entail colossal amounts,
as even today India has to spend over Rs. 33,000/-crores every
year for their import.
(d) Mechanised farming aided
with
chemical fertilizers do little to keep soil in
good heart. It has
been a world-wide experience that chemical farming destroys
humus of
the soil and robs it of its vitality in exchange for good
crops for
a decade or so. Soil starved of organic manures
thus gradually dies and large tracts of land,
once very fertile, are turning
in to deserts. Soil-erosion has
become the menacing global phenomenon
which has resulted from deforestation and
chemical farming. It is thus manifestly clear that chemical farming is
incapable for providing food to mankind for a
long time. The organic farming alone is the lasting solution.
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