Our Cattle Wealth and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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Our Cattle Wealth and Mahatma Gandhi

 

This is being written on Bakr-Id day a day of rejoicing for Mussalmans and grief for Hindus. It is day of grief for Hindus because their Mussalman brethren slaughter cows for sacrifice though they know that the cow is an object of worship and veneration for Hindus. Though I hold the cow as much in veneration as any Hindu and am responsible for bringing into being the in my opinion only scientific society for effectively protecting the cow, I have never sympathized with the Hindu grief and the implied anger against Mussalmans on Bakr-Id. The latter are undoubtedly foolish and obstinate in that they slaughter the cow and needlessly wound Hindu susceptibility for there is no religious obligation on the part of Mussalmans to kill the cow on Bakr-Id or any other day. I have heard some Mussalmans arguing that Hindus by their worship of the cow make it obligatory on them to kill the cow. These borders are on compulsion.

But if the Mussalman is foolish and obstinate, the Hindu is criminally ignorant and indirectly becomes party to the slaughter of the cow by the Mussalman. For cows are sold by Hindus as a rule. Hindu grief and anger are uncalled for. Hindu ignorance is responsible for many more deaths of cows than the deaths caused by the Mussalmans’ slaughter of the cow for one day in the year. Be it noted that Hindus are apparently quite reconciled to cow-slaughter on days other than Bakr-Id. I have in my possession startling authentic figures showing the annual slaughter of cattle and deaths from natural causes. According to the livestock census of 1935 about 80 per cent die naturally and 20 per cent are slaughtered. The percentage of natural death, however, varies according to locality. Where grazing conditions are good and cultivation careful, natural deaths fall as low as 7 per cent, and in famine zones they rise to 30 per cent. In the Bombay Presidency (British) it is estimated that there were, in 1935, 74.5 lakhs of cattle. Of these 9 lakhs died naturally against 2 lakhs by slaughter, i.e., 12 per cent against 3 per cent. In 1935 in British India, including Bengal and Bihar and Orissa, there were over eight crores of cows against just fewer than three crores of buffaloes. Comparison between the census of 1935 and 1930 shows that buffalo wealth is on the increase three times that of the cow. Now it is common knowledge that the cow is generally owned by Hindus. If they removed their unpardonable ignorance, they could easily prevent many deaths from natural causes. I reproduce immediately below this note two extracts showing why so many cattle die annually and what can and should be done to prevent this tremendous waste of wealth. Time was when the number of cows was the measure of man’s wealth. Today the cows are a drag on a man’s possessions. It is almost like depreciation of currency. The only difference is that prevention of depreciation of cattle or rather cow currency is possible by internal effort. The effort is threefold:

(1) No waste of energy over persuading Mussalmans to give up cow-slaughter, whether for sacrifice or food. They must be put on their own honour.

(2) Exclusive concentration on improvement of the cow and therefore giving up of buffalo milk and ghee.

(3) Exclusive use of dead cattle hide and free use other than for food of all the parts of carcasses, and improvement in tanning. The material for improvement is ready at hand in the numerous pinjarapoles and goshalas covering the whole land. The only thing needful is to remove certain prejudices and to conduct these institutions on sound scientific lines.

Reference:

 Harijan, 27-2-1937