MP chief minister announces 'cow cabinet'

Various departments of the state like Animal husbandry, Forest, Panchayat, Rural Development, Home and Farmer Welfare departments will be a part of the 'cow cabinet.'

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has decided to set up a 'cow-cabinet' for the protection and promotion of cattle in the state. He gave this information through his Twitter handle. After this decision of CM, many kinds of reactions are coming. It is being seen as another declaration in the political corridors and once again it has brought cows in the forefront of politics in Madhya Pradesh.

After the announcement of this decision of CM Shivraj, former Chief Minister Kamal Nath has raised questions on the destiny of the Shivraj government, he too took to Twitter and tweeted that Shivraj Singh is forgetting his old announcements and making a new announcement again. Instead of doing service of cows, he has cut the budget allotted for cows during the Congress government; this itself reflects his commitment for the cause of service of cows.

90% reduction in cow's fodder

At present, 1.80 lakh cows have been kept in the ‘gaushalas’ i.e. cow shelters of Madhya Pradesh. In the last financial year, the budget of the Animal Husbandry Department was kept at Rs 132 crores, while in 2020-21, it dipped straight down to Rs 11 crores, which means a reduction of about 90 percent. That means the budget of cow's diet has reduced from Rs. 20 to Re.1 and 60 paise.

Congress redeemed the BJP’s issue

The previous Kamal Nath government definitely worked on this issue of BJP. During the Kamal Nath government, it was decided to open one thousand cow shelters every year, although out of this, about 600 cow shelters were opened. However, only about one hundred and fifty cowsheds are being operated. Some depend on self-help groups and some cow shelters are being run by gram panchayats.

Congress is now raising questions

The Shivraj government had earlier established the Gopalan and Livestock Promotion Board in the year 2004 for the conservation and promotion of cows. In these 15 years only 1236 cow shelters were opened in the state. Of these, 600 cow shelters were opened during the previous Kamal Nath government.

Congress spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta said that the Shivraj government during its last 15 years tenure only talked about the conservation of cows, while Kamal Nath government has done the work of opening the cow shelters. The BJP government had also set up a Gopalan and Livestock Promotion Board, which was just for namesake and now the formation of a cow cabinet is also going to be included in the list of all the other mere announcements of the Chief Minister.

Continuous plans were made in 2014

• The BJP raised the issue of cow protection in its manifesto in 2014.

• Aadhaar cards of cows were issued in MP.

• After the announcement of BJP in 2017, the first cow sanctuary in the country was created in MP.

• Before Assembly 2018, BJP raised the issue of Holy cow fiercely.

• BJP created a mobile van in the name of '1962 Livestock Sanjeevani' scheme.

After BJP, Congress carried forward the cause of Mother cow

• Congress announced the opening of cow shelters in every gram panchayat in its 2018 manifesto.

• After the order to open one thousand cow shelters in the state, Congress initiated the 'Cattle Rescue Campaign'.

• After this, the Kamal Nath government brought a new plan and a mobile app was prepared to take care of the cow.

Madhya Pradesh has approximately 7 lakh stray cows

According to the 2012 animal census in Madhya Pradesh, the number of cattle and buffalo which are capable of breeding in the state is more than one crore nine lakh. Most of the animals in the state are of unspecified breed, whose milk production capacity is relatively less. The real problem with cows starts from here. When cows are not productive, people leave the cows on the road. According to the government figures in different districts of Madhya Pradesh, there are about seven lakh stray cattle.

Senior agriculture scientist Kedar Srotriya believes that unless the breed of cows is not improved, better results will not come in this matter. He said that steps were taken in this direction by the Department of Animal Husbandry and 14 lakh animals were artificially inseminated in the year 2019-20, but it could not be worked out on a large scale, due to which the status of the problem remains the same.

Lack of donations for cows

For the conservation and upkeep of cows in Madhya Pradesh, the Board also continues to appeal to the people for donations. But a total deposit of 58 thousand 132 rupees was received in the name of cows. The biggest donor in this is Dr RK Rokade, Director of Animal Husbandry Department, who donated 10 thousand rupees.

Only 627 cow shelters could be built in the last 15 years

In 2004, the Shivraj government of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had blown the trumpets in the name of service to cows, set up a cow breeding and promotion board in the state. Under this, Livestock Promotion Committees were also formed in all 51 districts. Even after this effort, a total of 627 private cow shelters could be established in Madhya Pradesh in the last 15 years, while not a single one was made functional.

Even though BJP and Congress accuse each other of doing politics in the name of cow, but during the term of their governments, cows did not get any special benefit. While the Congress built 600 cowsheds during its government, out of that only 150 could be operated, there is not a single cow shelter during the tenure of the BJP's 15-year-old government. Now it can be well imagined from these figures that how much the government and political parties are worried about the cows.

With Inputs from ANI