Holy cow! BJP has a problem in Uttar Pradesh

It's 4.30 pm on December 26. Despite the cold weather, a group of farmers is guarding the gate of the village secondary school at Saipur, a village situated around 30 km from Aligarh town. The villagers have locked up around 100 stray cattle in the school building.“The village has around 600 bighas of agricultural land on which we are trying to grow wheat,” said Chandra Mohan Singh (55). “More than half the crop has been damaged by stray cattle. This has happened although we guard our farms at night.”This situation which farmers in Saipur are facing is a common tale across all of India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. Be it Bahraich or Lakhimpur in east UP, or Urai and Jalaun in Bundelkhand or Mathura, Agra, Aligarh, Meerut, Baghpat and other places in west UP, the state is facing a cow crisis and no one seems to have an answer. Desperate to find a solution, farmers have started locking up the bovines in government buildings such as schools, hospitals and panchayat bhavans across UP.Agri Economy Versus Gau RakshaCattle has been part of the agriculture ecosystem. Over past one year, this ecosystem has been disturbed as farmers who once took pride in keeping cattle at home, have found them to be their biggest enemies. The BJP government under Yogi Aditynath has been very strict on animal slaughter and most of the illegal slaughter houses are shut. In May 2017, the central government came up with an order on Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which restricted the sale of cattle in the market for slaughter. Cow protection groups have also become super active, making it impossible to transport cattle from one place to another.“Earlier, we used to sell the male calf or unproductive cattle such as older cows for around Rs 4,000 to 5,000. Now, we can’t sell them. So, we leave them on the streets,” said Parveen Kumar (48) of Dabathwa village of Meerut district. Kumar said the cost of one animal per month is around `6,000 and it becomes difficult for farmers to maintain it, especially if the cattle is of no use. Farmers also complain of a sharp decline in the price of cattle in the past one year.“A cow which gives 10 litres of milk every day would earlier sell for Rs 40,000-50,000. Today, it is very risky to take cattle from one place to another as you would be asked too many questions and someone might attack you. The price has come down to Rs 15,000- Rs 20,000 for the same cow,” says Vinod Kumar, a farmer from Pathuli village in Meerut.The growing number of stray cattle has also severely affected the farm economy. This is the time of the year when sowing of wheat and potato seeds are at its peak. On an average, there are 50-100 heads of cattle in every village roaming around freely.When AK Sharma, SDM, Iglas, tried to convince village pradhans to have patience on December 26, Haribhan Singh, the pradhan of Bas Sudama, stood up in protest. “In one month’s time, our crop will be finished and we won’t be able to do anything. You are saying that it will take two months for the situation to improve. We don’t have time.” Singh spent Rs 12,000 to sow potato seeds in his three bigha farm.“Despite keeping an eye, a flock of 50 cows crossed my farm and the entire potato seeds were damaged,” he says. “I had to spend money again to sow the seed and put up a wired fence around my farm.” ET spoke to farmers from over a dozen villages and they all estimate the extent of damage to be around 50% of the entire wheat crop in their area.Cow: A Priority or Pressure PointAs per the 19th Live Stock Census of 2012, there are around 10,09,436 stray cattle in Uttar Pradesh. Work on the 20th Live Stock census has started from October 1 this year and the number is expected to grow manifold in the past seven years.“Because of the ban on illegal cow slaughter and farmers opting to leave their cattle on the streets, there has been a significant rise in stray cattle population in the past two years,” says Goudas, who runs two cow shelters in Bundelkhand.As per the UP Gau Seva Aayog, there are 495 registered Gaushalas in UP. At present, most of them house more than their capacity. For example, the Gaushala in Tappal had 400 bovines as of March this year. Currently, the number has reached 2,000. Another cow shelter in Jittara, Aligarh, had 200 cows in the beginning of the year. Currently, it has around 500 cows. The Bodhpura cow shelter in Urai district had 250 cattle in November last year. Today, it has 800 stray cattle. Most of these Gaushalas complain of lack of funds. 67343464 “The government offers `30 per day for 70% of the total number of stray cattle in one gaushala,” said Umesh Chandra Pandey, manager of Gopal Gaushala in Meerut which houses 900 cows. “We have applied for government aid in February this year but till now, the money hasn’t come.”Gopal Singh, who manages Tappal Gaushala, said the administration has assured them of help. “We have a daily expenditure of Rs 40,000 for fodder. We can’t sustain for long in the absence of government support.”UP Gau Seva Aayog, at its last meeting on June 19, 2018, had made several suggestions regarding management of stray cattle in the state. One of the important suggestions was to open new Gaushalas in all the districts of the state with a fund of Rs 1.2 crore for each district. Accordingly, in July, the UP Government allocated Rs 1.2 crore each to the 68 districts of the state to build gaushalas. A proposal was also made to build gaushalas in 12 district jails of the state.The Aayog has one chairman and three members. The chairman Rajeev Gupta’s tenure ended on July 21 this year while the members’ tenure came to an end in September this year. However, the Aayog is currently headless. “Since there was no team and our tenure ended, there was no follow-up of government allocation of money or work being carried out to provide shelter to stray cattle,” said Sandeep Pahal, one of the Aayog members. “Despite the announcement, work didn’t take place which has resulted in a panic situation right now.” 67343450 “We have identified a 69-hectare land in Gabhana, Aligarh, where we will be constructing a cow sanctuary. The facility can house 10,000 stray cattle,” said Chandra Bhushan Singh, DM, Aligarh. “Another such facility would come up in Kaudiyaganj. We are also in the process of freeing up government lands in all panchayats to make it available for constructing Gaushalas. But all this will take minimum two months’ time.”Protection Versus ManagementWith strict monitoring, illegal slaughtering and stray trading have almost come to a halt. The rise in the number of police cases related to cow protection, slaughtering and trading indicates that police are taking regular action. For example, in Meerut alone, total cow-related registered cases have increased from 69 in 2016 to 71 in 2017 and to 117 in 2018.“In 2017, there were 310 named accused in cow-related cases and all have been arrested,” says Akhilesh Kumar, SSP, Meerut.“This year there were 454 accused, out of which 430 have been arrested, and one has died in a police encounter. 89 arrests have been made under the Gangster Act and 28 under the Gunda Act.”Managing the cow menace is proving an uphill task for the district administration across the state. “Every morning I receive complaints that farmers in certain villages have locked up stray cattle in schools and action starts from morning till late evening,” said Chandra Bhushan Singh, DM Aligarh.The DM passes on the message to the SDMs who take the help of the local police stations to rescue the bovines from schools. Next, the rescued cattle are transported to the nearest Gaushalas. “It’s a huge challenge to transport the stray cattle to the Gaushalas as, in some cases, the Gaushalas are 40-50 km away,” said AK Sharma, SDM, Iglas, in Aligarh. “Even Gaushalas have a limit to house cattle.” A team of veterinary officers are deputed to monitor the health of cows on a regular basis.“We can only offer basic treatment to cows because of the large numbers,” said Chandra Bhan, veterinary officer of Tappal.Political Blame Game BeginsAs the crisis unfolds, a political blame game has started among farmers, the cow vigilante and the opposition parties. The cow vigilante, who are active on the streets, blame the problem on both the administration and the farmers.“The government officers don’t take it seriously and delay action until it reaches a point where farmers get agitated,” said Dharma Bhaiya, district head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Aligarh, and a known Gau Rakshak of the region. He also complains that despite all the claims, illegal slaughtering still takes place. On one such complaint by Gau Rakshaks, Iglas BJP MLA, Rajveer Diler visited HMA, one of the meat processing licensed units in Aligarh on December 27.“I had received complaints about illegal slaughtering taking place here but on enquiry there was nothing suspicious. Everything was happening as per the norms specified by the government and I am satisfied with the unit,” Diler told ET. “It’s a BJP government and the farmers think they can leave the cows and the government will take care. This is wrong.”Mention a Gau Rakshak and it is enough to agitate a farmer. “All these Gau Rakshaks operate in cities and don’t come to villages,” said Lakshman Singh, former pradhan of Mittholi village in Mathura. “They know that villagers might get into a scuffle with them.”Farmers also get support from opposition parties like the Rashtriya Lok Dal. “It looks like a politically motivated incident. Some RLD leaders are inciting the farmers,” said Chandra Bhushan Singh. Anil Chaudhary, RLD state secretary based in Meerut, denies such allegations. “Rather than blaming it on us, they should come up with a solution. What will farmer do when their hard work is going to waste,” he said.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2CKjGT5