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Journalism of Courage
FOR the small and marginal farmers in Maharashtra, the decision of the Central Government to ban cow slaughter in the country is a nightmare. Faced with the burden of debts, drought, water and fodder scarcity, a majority of the farmers are at their wits8217; end on managing their old and infirm cattle. Farmers confess that they are abandoning their bovines as they have no other alternative.
For Hanumant Bandopant Patil, a small farmer from Parner village in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, keeping his cattle alive is tough. Faced with drought like conditions, water and fodder scarcity, Patil is clueless on what to do with his aging cattle.
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Due to financial compulsions farmers sell their old cows and bulls to dalals or agents for a pittance. The agents in turn sell them to the slaughter houses that dot the state
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His team of 20 old and emaciated cows are bleeding away his financial resources. 8216;8216;Each year the quantity of produce is dwindling. What do I feed them?8217;8217; he asks.
Faced with the burden of financial debts, money is always in short supply with the Patils. 8216;8216;I have four children who help out in the fields. We have other cows too who have to be looked after. I make a little money selling milk. I want to sell these old cows but the agents are scared to buy them. Now I am told that no one will buy my old cows because of some new law,8221; said a dejected Patil.
Patil8217;s tale echoes the stories of many others living in the villages of Maharashtra. The thriving cattle markets in the interiors of Maharashtra are hot buying grounds for bovines. Due to their compulsions, farmers sell their old cows and bulls to the 8216;dalals8217; or agents for a pittance. The agents dalal in turn sell them to the numerous slaughter houses all over the state.
8216;8216;We want to look after the cows in their old age but can8217;t because of financial problems,8217;8217; says Chandrakant Tatyaji Shenoy from Junnar taluka. 8216;8216;When we sell them at the cattle markets we know that they are sold to slaughter houses. But there is no other go. Faced with all these burdens and bad crop every year, we have to sell them off,8217;8217; said Shenoy.
Most parts of Maharashtra are reeling under severe scarcity. Alarmed at the deplenishing water table in the state, the government has resorted to stringent implementation of water conservation projects. Yet, for the marginal farmers this is not enough. Coupled with water problem is the short supply of animal fodder.
All this has contributed to an increase in the number of abandoned cattle in the state. According to a state government official, though there is no official consensus done or statistics available on these abandoned cattle, specifically bovines, there numbers on the streets has been on the rise. 8216;8216;I counted atleast 30 to 35 cows during a drive around Pune. Due to the city8217;s proximity to numerous villages, old cows and bullocks are being left around the city. They just wander into the city and become regular fixtures at the dustbins,8217;8217; said the official.
Admitting that this is a fallout of the stringent implementation of the cow slaughter ban in the state, the official confessed abandoned cattle will be a major civic problem. Admission or denial, for the likes of Patil and Shenoy, their old cattle 8211; once a source of income 8211; have now become a financial noose around their necks.
