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CATTLE
IN INDIAN ECONOMY
- Babubbai J. Patel (
Ex. Chief Minister of Gujarat )
Article 48 of
the Constitution of India runs as under :-
The State
Shall endeavor to organise agriculture and animal husbandry
on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, "take
steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting
the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle."
Under this
article the state is enjoined in particular to take steps to
preserve the breeds and prohibit the slaughter of milch and
draught cattle.
This article
has advisedly laid stress not only on Preserving but improving
the breed of milch and draught cattle. Agriculture and animal
husbandry arc closely allied in India. The population
depending on agriculture has been consistently very high. In
our working force 72.8 percent were engaged in agriculture
when India became free. This percentage has remained
stationary, in spite of a very heavy increase in population
which has grown up from 36 crores, to 68 crores. In 1980 of
the work force of 21 crores and 32 lacs, 15 crores and 45 lacs
were engaged in agriculture. Agriculture and animal husbandry
are vitally dependent upon each other .
Agricultural
waste like fodder, straw, grass, weeds, husk, shrubs etc.
provide cattle feed. Cattle retain carbohydrates for
nourishment and return protein and vitamin rich milk and
nitrogenous and phosphoric fertilizers in the form of cow
dung enriching the soil and increasing agricultural output by
about forty per cent. Thus agriculture and animals support
each other and at the same time provide rich diet for human
beings and a great source of energy for many purposes like oil
extraction, cultivation, haulage, and water lifting. The cow
dung if passed through a Gobar Gas Plant provides !ich fuel in
the shape of gas which can be utilised both for cooking and
other energy purposes as also for lighting, besides retaining
hundred per cent manure.
The Supreme Court has
analysed the position fairly at length. It has felt that
cattle in India have a triple role to play, namely. to produce
1. milk for food
2. bulls for draught and
3. manure for agriculture.
Even cows giving a kilogram/liter or less of milk per day have to be preserved as
otherwise borne 90% of the present day milch cows will be
eliminated and we shall lose about 70% of our milk products
besides a large number of bullocks that they will bear.
"In India where a large section of the population
consists of vegetarians, there is a huge shortage in the
supply of milk. Cows and other milch cattle, therefore, arc of
very great value to this country". "There is another
important consideration which is perhaps more important from
the stand point of human food supply. It is the bullock that
takes the largest share in meeting the power requirements for
our agricultural production". The Supreme Court further
observed "That our working animals are perhaps just about
sufficient to supply the power to keep our agricultural
operations up to the necessary standard, but the demand for
food is growing, and we shall require large number of these i
animals. The cattle also provide huge quantities of dung and
urine. for fuel and manure. In terms of money the dung and the
urine will account for a large portion of the agricultural
income in India". About the usefulness of the cow and her
progeny the Court says .'They sustain the health of the nation
by giving them the life giving milk. The working bullocks are indispensable
for our agriculture. for they supply power more
than any other animal. Good breeding bulls are necessary to
improve the breed. The dung of the animal is cheaper than the
artificial manures and is extremely useful, in short, the
backbone of Indian agriculture is the cow and her
progeny".
With reference to the
slaughter of useful cows the court observes. "Instances
are not uncommon, however that to get an animal passed for
slaughter the teeth or the rings round the horns of the animal
are tampered with and sometimes a cow is even maimed in order
that she may be passed by the veterinary inspector as fit for
slaughter. Cows which are rejected by the inspector are taken
out of the limits of the cities and slaughtered in the rural
areas"
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