Make Cow Farming A Profitable Vocation

Kulbhushan Upmanyu

(The writer is an environmentalist heading Himalaya Niti Abhiyan)

Cow farming had remained second important vocation after agriculture in India. Even today 60% of population in the country is dependent on agriculture. Therefore, cow farming can play an important role in making this population self-dependent. Majority Hindu community views the importance of cow with an angle of reverence. In past, the society on the basis of situational experiences used to establish some norms that slowly took the shape of reverence. And this reverence became guarantee of preservation of these norms. It is because of such reverences that killing of cow is considered as a biggest sin here. Cow’s milk has been considered second best life giving food after mother’s milk. Especially for kids and elders, there is no replacement to cow’s milk. Perceiving life giving products and living beings with reverence to ensure their safety and to be free from their debt has remained special nature of Indian thought process. It is necessary that we stand firm on our norms of cow farming. But it does not mean that we should fight with the one who do not view cow with reverence. In fact we should serve cow as much as we can being a Hindu. The decision as who is right and who is wrong should be left to the God.

However sentiments of majority community should be respected in India, it being a Hindu majority and it becomes responsibility to act as per law for all citizens of India. Action should be taken as per law against all, whether it is an immoral act of killing a cow in public, organising beef festival etc or lynching people in the name of cow vigilantism. It is impossible to protect cows without practising cow farming. It also needs to be found out as to why people are abandoning cows in towns and villages. Somewhere the financial aspect of cow farming needs to be looked at. This work needs hard labour and therefore it should yield financial benefits accordingly. Society adopts any profession because of its financial benefits. Therefore cow farming needs to be made a profitable vocation and few steps need to be taken to achieve this.

We will have to ensure availability of cheap fodder. This can be done by eliminating weeds from pasteurlands and filling it with good quality grass. Second, farming slowly and steadily needs to be made animal dependent. A step towards organic farming could prove fruitful in this direction. Third, a system needs to be erected to hone bio gas possibility. Fourth, local breed cows should be promoted as European breed consumes more fodder.

We already have good quality cow breeds like Sahiwal, Gir, Sindhi etc that yield 10 to 20 kilogram milk daily. Indigenous cows yield A-2 milk that is good for health. The milk of European breed cows is of A-2 category that have histidine amino acid that forms beta casomorphin peptoid during digestion process, a reason for many diseases. The Indian consumers should also be made aware of this scientific research. Many such efforts are required to protect cows.

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