Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has penned first of its kind ‘Gaushala Manual’ that lays down a standard operating procedure to run cow shelters and protect cows. The manual is not a government initiative, but an individual initiative Gandhi has undertaken as an activist, reported Hindustan Times.
Expressing concern over the deplorable conditions of cow shelters and high mortality rate of animals there, she wrote in the foreword: “A gaushala may have a mandir (temple) in it venerating the cow, but it rarely has a sick bay in which the animal is treated.”
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Explaining the idea behind writing the manual, she added,
Majority of the gaushalas in the country are poorly run where the old and abandoned animals are herded in one small enclosure. The mortality rate in gaushalas is 10% a month. The idea behind writing the manual is to make such shelters more sensitive to the need of the animals that are sought to be saved and also make them financially viable.
According to a 2014 reply in Parliament, there are about 3,030 gaushalas in the country, of which 1,325 are run by various animal husbandry departments of the states.
Exposing how owners manhandle cows in the shelter, Gandhi further wrote,
After some time gaushalas degenerate into semi dairies. The group controlling the gaushalas starts segregating the milking cows from the old and sick ones. These are fed better, made to breed and the milk is collected and distributed among these people. The calves are often sold on the sly to butchers.
Even as the Indian government spent Rs 5.8 billion rupees on cow shelters from 2014 to 2016, cases of cow deaths in government aided cow centres show no sign of decline.
In Chhattisgarh itself, within four months, over 300 cow deaths were reported. According to the locals, they died owing to “starvation and lack of proper care”.
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In recent times, India has seen an increase in attacks on alleged cow smugglers by self-styled vigilantes, known as gaurakshaks.
