Around six years back Aadhar cards were introduced in India and all citizens who signed up for it were given a Unique Identification or UID number. This move to provide unique identifications to every citizen was the first of its kind, but who could ever imagine this process would be extended to cows? Well some stuff happens only in India.
The government has revealed an extensive project where 1,00,000 technicians have gotten together to provide 88 million cattle with a 12-digit long unique identification number. This step has been taken to enable the government to track cattle and keep a check on their numbers, health, vaccination and dairy production among other factors.
A tag will be affixed inside the animal’s ears and the technicians will then use a tablet to update the number in an online database. The cattle owner will be provided with an ‘animal health card’ to track all activities. From breeding to deworming, all details of each of these animals will now be accessible under a single database.
Cattle health in India has often been a cause of great concern and sick cows have been known to pass on crippling diseases to humans. In a country where a major part of the population is involved in dairy farming and cattle rearing, keeping a check on cattle and having their database might actually be a positive move.
Ridiculous as it may sound, deaths over stealing of cattle and fights over ownership of cattle animals is not unheard of. With such an indentification system in place such crimes could be brought under control too. If this plan does in fact get implemented, a clear demarcation will be drawn between which of these animals are domesticated and which are out in the wild. This in turn could lead to making cattle rehabilitation easier and in case of an untoward event it would be easier to figure out where the responsibility lies.
Whether or not it will be possible to provide UIDs to such a massive number of cattle remains to be seen.
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