An ancedote from rural Uttar Pradesh
Although we don’t talk about it anymore, or at least not with such passion and rigor, the various sorts of restrictions imposed on trading and slaughter of cattle in BJP and Congress-ruled states in India are still impacting the rural hinterlands. The so-called cow ban has had several unintended and tragically funny consequences, like what Mr. Dimple Yadav, a native of Uttar Pradesh state told us:
“My cousins back home are spending sleepless nights chasing away bulls who turn up in herds and run wild into the fields, destroying the standing crop. They are spending their nights, bleary eyed, in the farms, waiting for the bulls to turn up.
Several farmers have stopped planting maize and are sourcing it from the market for personal consumption. Reason? Corn happens to be the bulls‘ favourite food at that time of the night.
And there’s more: not only do you have to escape the bull (imagine confronting one tall, muscular one in the middle of the night, right outside your door!), you also have to protect your domesticated cows from the bull. Mr. Bull does not think twice about imposing itself on the cow if it feels in the mood for some carnal pleasure. Some bulls are notoriously serial ‘rapists’ and that leads to additional expenditure including private enclosures for the priced Jersey cows.
When the day comes, the poor cow has to be taken for a ride, often on a two-wheeler
It does not end here: when the day comes, the poor cow has to be taken for a ride, often on a two-wheeler, to be dropped at the other end of the village, so that she does not make her way home. Since the market for buying and selling cattle is now illegal and/or non-existent, cows – old and young – are abandoned as they become uneconomical.
We all really wish the government would think things through before taking such decisions.”
Since the misery of the poor farmer, shepherd, butcher, meat trader and thousands others does not touch a raw nerve, maybe the cow’s would…