-Livemint.com Drastic fall in ownership of male cattle in rural India is testimony to the benefits of farm mechanization in agriculture New Delhi: Delivering his customary Vijayadashami speech, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat advised farmers to adopt “cow-based farming” practices as a way out of poverty. “When we talk about farming with less capital, organic in nature, naturally the point is raised that the large number of farmers in our...

A recent one-liner about the achievement of the present Central government goes like this: bovine has become ‘divine’ during the NDA’s rule. But why do such jokes originate? Media reports suggest that unprecedented aggression has taken place during the recent months in the name of the peaceful looking animal – cow. Mob lynching and killings by fringe groups have been reported from various parts of the country, especially targeting Muslims and...

-Livemint.com For same wealth levels, chances of owning cattle are more or less the same for Hindus and Muslims Given the increasing incidents of violence under the garb of cow protection in the country—these are driven largely by the belief that Muslims engage with the cattle economy mostly for meat (as butchers, commission agents or beef eaters)—it makes sense to view the cattle economy in the country through the prism of religion. An...

-TheWire.in Legislative action that primarily looks at cattle mobility as ‘acts of smuggling cattle out of state for slaughter’ is deeply misguided and betrays a misunderstanding of how India’s cattle have been bought and sold since the British Raj. Like many poorly drafted laws, the recently notified Livestock Markets (Regulation) Rules is so pre-occupied with its self-righteousness that it fails to realise the harm that it would cause. If the colonial era’s...

-The Indian Express Punjab’s unique cattle breeding-cum-milk sale dairying model is under threat from gau rakshak activism and the Centre’s new animal trading rules. Randhawa and Gill are amongst Punjab’s many dairy farmers who have made the state into a major supplier of not just milk, but also milch animals. Gurdaspur (Punjab): “When there’s no land in our name, how would we now buy or sell cattle? Are they saying we...