Skip to main content

Failure of Yogi's scheme to 'support' cows? UP farmers angry, seek compensation

By Sandeep Pandey* 

On December 28, villagers from five villages of Hardoi District – Chamka, Gram Sabha Sikandarpur, Fatehpur and Banjara, GS Gherwa, Jeevan Kheda, GS Bharawan and Dulanagar, GS Dulanagar were going to march towards Yogi Adityanath’s residence in Lucknow with stray cattle, who have become a source of grief for them, after informing the Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Sandila. The Block Development Officer of Bharawan arranged vehicles to transport 22 animals on December 27, and another 17 on December 29 to Gaushalas or Cow-sheds.
As soon as the news spread people in other villages, equally harassed, started gathering the stray cattle. Villagers in Ramnagar, GS Kaudia, collected 50 animals, Banajra, GS Aira Kakemau collected 60-70 animals and GS Bharawan collected about 200 animals and waited for the administration to fetch their cattle too.
On January 1, 2022 hundreds of people from abovementioned villages marched towards Chief Minister’s residence. They were intercepted by the SDM and Circle Officer of Sandila on the way and hundreds of cattle were moved from villages to Cow-sheds.
In 2021 six such action programmes were undertaken by villagers in Hardoi, Unnao and Barabanki Districts. The first programme was undertaken in Miyaganj, Unnao on 25 January when villagers started for CM’s residence.
The SDM and CO of Hasanganj intervened and sent the cattle to a shelter home for animals. On the Republic Day, January 26, hundreds of villagers with 21 cattle moved from Lalamau Mawai GS in Hardoi. Again the SDM and CO arrived and gave in writing that 80 cattle held by nearby three GSs in a temporary enclosure will be moved to cow-sheds within two days.
Also, a First Information Report with section of Scheduled Caste/Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act was lodged against a Bhartiya Janata Party local office bearer Gyanendra Singh who had attacked the villagers when they were taking the cattle from Lalamau Mawai to a cow-shed in Pawayan village on the advice of District Veterinary Officer in previous December.
On August 13 people from Aseni GS in Barabanki marched towards CM’s residence with stray cattle after informing the officials. The police intervened and arranged for the cattle to be sent to cow-shed. However, it was only a symbolic action with only a few cattle being removed leaving behind the more dangerous ones. So, the villagers of Aseni again decided to take out the cattle parade on August 18.
This time the District Veterinary Officer assured in writing that all cattle would be removed from the village within a week. In Unnao villagers from GS Devgaon gave a notice to the SDM, Safipur that they would march to CM’s residence on September 22 with stray cattle.
A day before the action, the SDM got approximately 40 cattle removed from the village to cow-shed. Then on 11 October, again in Unnao, people marched with cattle from Kali Mitti to Takia and then to Asiwan the next day for about ten kilometers before the police intervened and arranged for the cattle from two villages Tanda Satan and Majharia to be transported to cow-sheds. However, villagers in other villages were also expecting stray cattle from their respective villages to be removed.
Today there is a massive fodder scam going on in UP in which people from top to bottom in the government machinery are involved
The fact is that villagers all over Uttar Pradesh are fed up of stray cattle. When they decided to enclose their agricultural fields with a bladed wire, which is more dangerous than barbed wire, the government imposed a ban on bladed wire and issued an order to fine the farmers who were putting up such fence. The government instead of finding a solution to the problem of stray cattle decided to punish the farmers.
Stray cattle became a problem after Yogi Adityanath became the CM, when in a number of incidents people accompanying cattle were suspected of taking them to slaughter houses and were fatally mob lynched. Afraid of these Gaurakshaks, who merely indulged in violence in the name of cow protection, the sale and purchase of cows came to a halt. The weekly cow markets were closed.
Sandeep Pandey
Yogi Adityanath government started a scheme for cow-sheds in which there is a provision for Rs 30 per cattle per day for feeding them. However, the number of stray cattle is too large and there are not enough cow-sheds. Neither is there a will to run the cow-sheds properly.
The animals are languishing in cow-sheds without proper care and caretakers are sometimes not paid their honoraria for months. In Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav went to jail in fodder scam. Today there is a massive fodder scam going on in UP in which people from top to bottom in the government machinery are involved.
The government should create cow-sheds wherever people have gathered the stray cattle and administration should take care of their feed. Otherwise the Rs 30 per cattle per day provision should be directly made available to the farmers so that they may not abandon their cattle who have no utility for them.
After all the present government has begun various cash transfer schemes and it can easily transfer cash into farmers’ accounts for this purpose too. The Kisan Samman Nidhi of Rs. 6,000 being given to farmers is a pittance compared to the losses they have suffered on account of stray cattle eating up their crops. In fact, this scheme is a disgrace for the farmers.
The Panchayats can also take care of the responsibility of stray cattle provided sufficient funds are made available to them. A number of Gram Pradhans complain that they spend out of their pocket to take care of the stray cattle when asked to do so but are subsequently not reimbursed by the officials.
The farmers are demanding that since the government has banned the bladed wires it should compensate the farmers for the crops destroyed by stray cattle. If the government doesn’t pay heed to this demand then the farmers are likely to approach the courts.
Ram Snehi Arkvanshi, the farmer who led the recent initiative from Chamka village in Hardoi District to free his village of stray cattle, is of the opinion that if the government cannot run cow-sheds properly and is not willing to compensate the farmers in any way, then it should allow the cow markets to function so that the farmer can be relieved of the problem of stray cattle.
---
*Magsaysay award winning scholar-activist; general secretary, Socialist Party (India)

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

'A disaster in the making': Expansion of oil palm plantations in Northeast India

By Rupa Chinai, Ravi Chellam*  Until a few decades ago, India was nearly 100% self-sufficient in edible oils, with a diverse variety of oilseeds that were grown and consumed sustainably in keeping with the ecological and climatic conditions of different regions in the country. Today, India is highly reliant on palm oil imports to meet its vegetable oil demands. 

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.