MP: Stray cows given to tribal farmers

At the time when cities like Indore and Bhopal are reeling under stray cattle menace, people from Alirajpur, Shajapur and Agar districts of Madhya Pradesh have found a unique solution to deal with the problem.

At the time when cities like Indore and Bhopal are reeling under stray cattle menace, people from Alirajpur, Shajapur and Agar districts of Madhya Pradesh have found a unique solution to deal with the problem.

A farmer from Masni village in Alirajpur district with a cow. (Arun Mondhe/ HT)

Instead of releasing the animals in the forest or sending the cattle to gaushalas or cow shelters, panchayats in Agar and Shajapur transport and distribute stray cows to impoverished farmers in tribal-dominated Alirajpur and Jhabua districts, helping them to earn a livelihood.

Records of cows transported and distributed are being kept by officials at tehsils and panchayats to monitor the condition of the animals.

The initiative started by a small group of villagers with the help of Madhya Pradesh gau palan avam pashudhan samvardhan board a month back, has paid off.

Until now, 1,365 stray and aged cows, have been transported to different villages in the tribal-dominated Alirajpur and Jhabua districts and more than 1,000 families have been benefited from the initiative.

The initiative is only helping hundreds of impoverished tribes people who are dependent on farming to get other option to earn their livelihood besides giving shelter to the cows.

Santosh Joshi, vice president of Madhya Pradesh Gau Palan Evam Pashudhan Samvardhan Board, said that the initiative was launched more than a month back when he had visited Alirajpur and Jhabua districts.

“Tribes people are mostly depended on farming and have no other source of income when the farming season is over. Barely literate and depending on agriculture, these impoverished tribes people migrate to cities to earn a livelihood,” he said.

Peerulal Kalshiya, a farmer from Agar said tribes people never steal cows but only round up stray cattle wandering in villages. “We keep the cattle at cow shelters for few days so that owner can come and take the animal home. Only unclaimed cows that have stopped giving milk and old animals are transported to bigger gaushalasa,” he said.

“Earlier, we use to release them in the forest, but now we are distributing them to needy farmers.”

Bherusingh Kanesh, sarpanch of Masni village in Alirajpur district, said, “To get a cow, a farmer has to register himself by paying `50 and furnishing personal details with to the panchayat.”

“Initially, we faced problems while transporting the animals from one district to another, but now people are aware about our motive.

“We never stuff the animals in trucks, but we transport them in a proper way with documents so we hardly face any problem now,” he said.

“Once we get application, we verify whether applicant can feed the cow. Only after verifying we hand over the cow to the applicant.”