Promotion of Indian Breeds of Cow for Sustainable Prosperity of India

Subodh Kumar (subodh1934@gmail.com)

(This paper presents the Vedic approach to ecologically sustainable life,

where Cow held the center stage, and awareness about global warming, climatic

changes, concept of ozone layer and a sustainable green strategy were documented.)

Modern science and education have made breathtaking advances to deploy the

natural resources, in quest for prosperity. In our enthusiasm we have perhaps gone too

far, taking nature for granted and over utilized the natural resources. Of late, notice is

being taken of the ecological changes including global warming, changes in weather,

declining soil productivity and depletion of natural resources.

Prevailing researchers have underplayed the fact that decline on the material

plane bears a relation ship with the degeneration of quality of human life. The gap

between the rich and poor, lack of concern for the welfare of society, growing crime,

sectarian intolerance and violence, loss of personal and human values, new and

more insidious diseases are also on the rise. These are some of the phenomenon which

has accompanied modern growth strategies.

Present strategies have not been able to slowdown depletion of and permanent

damage to natural resources affirms that we have not been following sustainable

strategies. The global ecological issue is also being looked by some as an evil of the

modern civilization.

It will be a surprise to learn that these very issues were scrutinized and addressed

in the ancient scriptures of humanity the Vedas. Our scientists only have to be a little

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circumspect and not ignore and condemn all ancient traditionally held beliefs, out of

hand.

¾Öîãúšü (vaikunt) and †×ÖŸÖ (akshit) are two Vedic terms, which literally mean non-
degeneration and that which does not suffer destruction. From ancient times, as per

Vedas all our strategies were driven by these two words. Sustainability is the closest

English equivalent of these Sanskrit terms.

Vedas have holistic approach to life. Progress is not seen only on the material

plain but is seen also as reflected in the quality of human existence. The following Veda

Mantra illustrates this beautifully.

Šú×ÂÖ„ -éúք

ÖÖê׳Ö™ü¸êü´ÖÖ´ÖØŸÖ ¤ãü¸êü¾ÖÖÓ μÖ¾ÖêÖ Öã¬ÖÓ ¯Öã¹ýÆæüŸÖ ×¾ÖÀ¾ÖÖ´ÖË…

¾ÖμÖÓÓ ¸üÖ•Ö׳ք ¯ÖÏ£Ö´ÖÖ ¬Ö−ÖÖ−μÖÖôÖÖ êú−Ö ¾Öé•Ö−Öê−ÖÖ„ •ÖμÖê´Ö…… RV10.42.10, RV10.43.10,RV 10.44.10,

AV7.50.7,AV20.17.10,AV20.89.10,AV20.94.10.

Through COW dispel the poverty accompanying ignorance

Through COW grow food grains to dispel hunger of the worlds

Through COW earn riches the individual, in turn make your nation rich, and thus

empowered to gain victory over those indulging in socially deviant behavior in

society.

It is no other than Lord Krishna himself who has spelled out this principle in the

Vedas as an awatar Rishi (the Seer). Lord has emphasized this message by repeating it at

seven different places in Rig Veda and Atharva Veda. (Finding the same Mantra,

repeated so many times, is unique in the entire Vedic literature). We can only ignore its

message at our own peril.

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 The message in this Veda Mantra is that it is only by Cow that:-

1. A prosperous society is knowledge driven, for which mental qualities are

the bounties from keeping the cows as pets (Milk and milk probiotic products for

nutrition, organic agriculture and change in physical and social environments.)

2. Hunger free society is the bounty of Cow (Organic Agriculture).

Such a rich and prosperous society is inherently strong and stable where social

pressures restrain deviant behavior.

This strategy also finds echo beautifully, in the following famous Veda Mantra, which

due to the importance of its message, is repeated at three places in the Vedas.

³ÖÖ ¯ÖϝÖêŸÖ³ÖÔÖ ÃÖŸμÖ ¸üÖ¬ÖÖê ³ÖÖê´ÖÖÓ ×¬ÖμÖ´Öã¤ü¾ÖÖ ¤ü¤ü®Ö„…

³ÖÖ ¯ÖÏ ÖÖê •Ö−ÖμÖ ÖÖê׳ָüÀ¾Öî³ÖÔÖ ¯ÖÏ®Öé׳Ö−ÖéÔ¾ÖŸÖ„ ÃμÖÖ´Ö…… RV 7.41.3, AV3.16.5, Shukla YV34.36

The mantra extols the virtue of fortunes earned by individual efforts, providing

transparent affluence, mental attitudes developed by proper nutrition, and the prosperity

of the masses through animal husbandry, and a healthy society.

Issues pertaining to Global warming OZONE Layer , climatic changes and resulting

catastrophic natural phenomenon are addressed in Veda mantras.

†¬¾ÖμÖÔ¾ÖÖê μÖÖê ¥ü³ÖߍÓú •Ö‘ÖÖ−Ö μÖÖê ÖÖ ˆ¤üÖ•Ö¤ü¯Ö ×Æü ²Ö»ÖÓ ¾Ö„ …

ŸÖôÖÖ ‹ŸÖ´Ö−ŸÖ׸üÖê −Ö ¾ÖÖŸÖ×´Ö−¦Óü ÃÖÖê´Öî¸üÖêÖãÔŸÖ •Öæ−ÖÔ ¾ÖáÖî„ ……RV2.14.3

Holes in the worn out garment that covers the earth, cause great natural calamities

that, have the strength of demons to violently toss about and kill cows. Heal and repair

these holes by performing Yagnas to sustain rain bearing winds and clouds to aid growth

of vegetation.

†¬¾ÖμÖÔ¾ÖÖê μÖ ˆ¸üÖÓ •Ö‘ÖÖ−Ö −Ö¾Ö “֏¾ÖÖÓÃÖÓ −Ö¾Ö×ŸÖ “Ö ²ÖÖÆæü−ÖË …

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 μÖÖê †²ÖãÔ¤ü´Ö¾Ö −Öß“ÖÖ ²Ö²ÖÖ¬Öê ŸÖ×´Ö−¦Óü ÃÖÖê´ÖÃμÖ ³Öé£Öê ×Æü−ÖÖêŸÖ …….RV 2.14.4
Repair damage to this protective covering by destroying those trillions of

elements that damage it, by putting to use the qualities of Indra to nurture vegetation and

prosperity on earth. (By following ecofriendly green strategies)

Awareness of Ozone layer, damage to it by green house gases, global warming,

resulting in natural calamities like the recent Tsunami which had the strength of demons

to toss about and kill the cattle, and repair to the holes in Ozone layer by trillions of small

hands is shown in these Veda mantras, which validate the Vedic life style sustainability.

In the post independence Indian planning, the role of

Cow is seen only as a milk provider, and its importance to

agriculture has become a non-issue. This approach lacks a

holistic perception that is explained in the following Veda

mantra.

³Ö¸ü«üÖ•ÖÖμÖÖ¾Ö ¬ÖãÖŸÖ ׫üŸÖÖ …

¬Öê−ÖãÓ“Ö ×¾ÖÀ¾Ö¤üÖêÆüÃÖ×´ÖÂÖÓ “Ö ×¾ÖÀ¾Ö³ÖÖê•ÖÃÖ´ÖË …… RV6.48.13

Cow provides the twin bounties, apparently only Milk, but hidden from our eyes, food

for society.

In India Sustainability suffered a fatal blow, the day our planners, separated Cow from

Agriculture. (There is another message contained in this Veda Mantra. The Seer of this

Mantra is a female. In the Vedic scheme animal husbandry was the domain of women.

This not only ensured a loving care for the cows, but also gave them control of cattle

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wealth, quality of nutrition and food for society. Women were empowered in commerce

to play their role in society and could not termed as exploited and dependants.)

The alignment of the Vedic concepts with present day life style of society will

require some adaptation in their implementation. These would basically involve a

seamless integration of the urban and rural life styles that need not be seen as competing

but as alternative living styles; choice for any individual to adopt.

How relevant and urgent the attention to the Cow has become for India cannot be

shown better than the following dissertation.

In the absence of sustainability as a strategy, the gains made by us in the wake of GREEN

REVOLUTION have slowly faded; as a result we are forced to import food grains. Our

planners have now taken notice of the decline in food availability and also the growing

frustrations among the farmers culminating in suicides and migration to urban areas in

search for alternative livelihoods.

Govt. has launched a Food Security Mission. During the on going deliberations of

the National Food security Mission under the chairmanship of Prof. M.S. Swaminathan,

on 6th Sep 2007 in PUSA IARI, a large 5 hour marathon discussion took place, in the

presence of two central cabinet ministers with very senior and learned experts of the

country. Main issues raised can be summed up as follows: -

1. Attitudinal problems among the farming community.

2. Poor knowledge and skills base.

3. Poor quality of farm input materials.

4. Soil fertility issues.

5. Poor productivity

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 6. Irrigation water

7. Post harvesting

8. Market access

9. Energy sources

10. Cash resources

In is these deliberations any discussion of sustainability was conspicuous by its

absence. It is only due to lack of Sustainability in our current strategies that:-

1. The bounties of Green Revolution on the food grains front are slipping away.

2. The operation white flood has not been able to address the nutritional problems in

any significant manner, and the average farmer and his family still suffers from poverty

and malnutrition.

3. In spite of a large number of ‘financial’ schemes our farmers are still committing

suicide and losing interest in agriculture as a livelihood.

4. The gap between rich and poor, urban and rural divide is continuing to widen.

5. Newer and more resistant diseases are showing up.

It is more than obvious that if there is something missing in our planning, it is

SUSTAINABILITY.

It is submitted in all earnestness that at the root of all of these problems is

ignoring the household cows particularly in the rural areas. Cows of the farmers

ensured nutritive, organic disease free agriculture, healthy water retaining humus

rich soils and the stable mental attitudes which are born out of self reliance and

being alive to local problems through local solutions among the rural masses.

The individual issues raised by the experts were: -

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 1. Attitudinal Issues. The Mind Nutrition Foundation of the U.K. has established

that neonatal and subsequent malnutrition results in producing a society that comprises of

an unenterprising, fatalistic, population with lazy mental attitudes, which generate a

parasitic life style.

Pregnant mothers/infant nutrition programs have been launched all over the world,

most recently even in the United States of America. The spectacular progress made by

China is attributable to the change in mental capabilities of the Chinese youth, which has

been brought about by the mother child nutritional programs that were launched in China

in 1970s.

Many NGOs in India are engaged in such programs like distributing iron tablets

among pregnant women. These programs will be more sustainable by making available

and propagating the use of locally produced natural homegrown green leafy vegetables,

and milk from Cow, which almost every rural family used to live on.

To bring about change in the mental attitudes of a society it requires the

development of a new generation, which does not suffer from malnutrition, which starts

from the time a mother, becomes pregnant. The only solution in a vegetarian society lies

in having household cows.

2. Knowledge Skill Base

There is immense erosion of the knowledge base in India. Literacy has come to be

seen as education, more so in rural areas. Knowledge and skill are expected to flow

automatically from such ‘education’, which in India is a paper certificate oriented system.

Paper qualifications are pursued in quest of employment. There is little effort to lay stress

on acquiring knowledge and skill base in Indian education.

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 Loss of sustainability of productivity is directly related to lack of knowledge and

skills. There should be a reorientation of the extension services. Every village cluster

should have its own extension center. These Extension Centers should be run as

sustainable production centers, in affiliation with the nearest University / Research Lab.

The individual units should be constituted as small registered bodies consisting of young

local Agri/Vet graduates. There was a Vedic System of ensuring this for the society,

which can be elaborated upon.

Modern irrigation techniques like Drip Irrigation, Hydroponics, Green House

Nurseries, Crop Rotation, Soil Enrichment By Green Manures, Biodynamic,

Biofertilizers locally grown and developed Area Specific Horticulture and Fruit crops and

good Animal Husbandry and Dairy farming practices will be automatically transferred to

the local community by actual demonstration of successful practice in these extension

centers which will be actually performing on a sustainable basis. Their success itself will

be a source of knowledge transfer and skill enhancement agent for the area. The seed

money for starting such activities can be sourced from Socially Responsible Corporates

and the Rural Banking input channels. For these extension centers to be successful it is

necessary to propagate Organic agriculture - No organic Agriculture is possible

without inputs from cows.

3 Quality of Input in Agriculture

Our farmers are reported to suffer from immense cash losses caused by massive

crop failures, due to rampant adulteration and poor quality of bought out farm inputs.

These are chemical fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, cattle feed etc. Failure and low farm

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productivity due to poor quality of farm input, in spite of spending heavily the funds

borrowed from the bank is the main cause of farmers’ suicides.

Locally produced materials like biopesticides, biofertilizers, seeds, seed treatment

and crop sprays ensure the cheapest and most reliable products for the farmers.

The biodynamic (Rudolf Steiner) preparations from Cow Horns - crop sprays are

now a strategy being promoted even by US Agriculture Department. This is basically the

old Vedic cow centric agriculture coming back to India from the West.

India had a long tradition of soil remediation by Organic Compost Green Manures

and Crop Rotation. Seed treatment seed storage with Cow Urine and Neem preparations

are now being reintroduced. Vriksh Ayurved enlists use of such herbs as Ribes Embilium

(a deworming agent) as soil sanitiser before planting of trees. Even seeds could be mostly

home produce selected and saved. For these strategies training in making good reliable

home made preparations needs to be standardized and Keeping of household Cow has to

be encouraged.

4. Soil fertility Issues.

The use of chemical fertilizers requires to be supplemented with Organic Manure.

Even use of gypsum for soil pH correction requires Organic manure. It is confirmed by

the modern soil scientists that Chemical fertilizers alone can hardly supply all the

nutrients needed by soil. Soil nutrition can be supplemented only with organic manure.

Without cows where does one get Organic Manure?

5. Productivity

Good health, positive mental attitude of the farmer, improved knowledge and skill

base with support from local area extension services, quality farm inputs will only

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enhance Productivity. With household cows ensuring better nutrition farmers will be

healthier. Improved quality of homegrown input material and Organic soil fertility, aided

by modern knowledge and skill will bring a big change in sustainable farm productivity.

For that you have to keep Household cows.

6. Water for Irrigation

As a matter of conscious planning water intensive crops like paddy and sugar

cane should be encouraged to shift to coastal areas, with greater emphasis on Rainwater

harvesting. Crops requiring less water have to be encouraged in drier areas. For better

moisture retention, the Humus and Organic Content of the Soil has to be improved. Only

organic manure can ensure this. Household cows again come to play this role.

7. Post Harvesting:

Higher consumption of produce at the place of production will follow with

healthier rural community.

Refrigeration and cold chain are very important links in post harvesting

operations. The zero energy cold chambers could be propagated in areas where feasible.

But the most energy efficient green strategy is making available refrigeration to rural

masses by devices working directly from Biogas. Kerosene operated refrigerators were

very common up 1940s. The gas Operated refrigerators are now becoming popular in

USA. In India after cooking of the meals, every individual small family biogas plant is

left with some surplus biogas. The quantity of surplus gas is too small for power

generation, but is adequate to operate a small refrigerator. In India we should have

biogas-operated refrigerators also available for rural areas. This also offers very good

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business opportunities for commercial houses to take interest. For Bio Gas availability

you need to keep a household cow.

8. Market Access:

Organic Agriculture products and Milk has great significance for nutrition and

disease free health of the community. Organic produce also provides a high price in the

world markets. Organic produce will also ensure a quantum jump in the earnings of a

farmer - But to ensure this strategy, you must encourage keeping of a household Cow.

9 Energy Sources

Bullocks and Biogas are very important areas to be developed with more sincerity

on the part of our planners. These are not only the cheapest energy sources but also are

also sustainable and environment friendly. Male Calves are not only a source of green

power, but India will require all its male calves to be developed to supply the Bulls

required for natural breeding of our cows. At present this area has been totally ignored,

due to undue misplaced. emphasis given to AI (Artificial Insemination) This aspect is

discussed later in this paper. Energy needs every household can be met, free of charge by

BIOGAS from household cows. The biogas slurry provides best organic FREE

MANURE.

10. Cash Resources

With home grown quality input of seeds, fertilizers, organic manure Milk and

Milk products for nutrition and energy needs met by Biogas and Organic Produce,

through a household Cow the cash requirements of a farmer will be minimized.

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 Significance and reasons for protecting and promoting the Indian Breeds of

Cows.

Unmindful of the traditional Indian belief in the efficacy of the milk and products

of the Indian breeds of cows, our planners embarked on two very hastily arrived

decisions. And neglect of cow feed on national; basis.

1. Milk from all breeds of cows and buffaloes was considered equally good.

2. AI was introduced on mass scale. To improve the low milk yield of the

Indian Breeds of cows. Cross breeding with European high yielding cows was

implemented on national level.

The latest researches have confirmed that that only the milk of Bos Indicus i.e. Indian

breed of cows has the desired health promoting properties due to presence of Beta Casein

A2 protein. European breeds of Cows are classified as Bos Taurus. Their milk contains

the protein Beta Casein A1, which produces beta-casomorphin7, which makes this milk

diabetogenic relative to A2 milk. Medical researches have also linked A1 milk with

statistically higher incidence of Cardiac situations. In Australia, New Zealand, Korea

Certified, A2 milk is already commanding the premium prices four times the price of

non-certified A1A1-A1A2 milk. This matter has incidentally been already brought to the

attention of the Govt of India. Parenthetically, the Cross breeding between the two breeds

of the cow is being discontinued in these countries. Strategies are already being worked

out to convert all the cows with the farmers to revert to Bos Indicus breeds for beta casein

A2 protein in their milk. It is hoped that Indian scientists will pay urgent attention to this

fact.

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 AI and ET (Artificial insemination and Embryo transfer) are excellent modern

scientific interventions and may be carried out in controlled laboratory research

institutions, for strategic purposes. Simultaneously natural form of breeding by good

bulls should not be neglected, because in practice natural breeding method is not only

organically sustainable but also found more cost effective in practice. The national AI

success has hardly been better than 30%, whereas natural breeding success rate is nearly

100%, with minimum empty cows.

Cattle Feed: - Finally it must be appreciated that Indian cows have been starving

for lack of any policy to ensure proper feeds. This is the main reason for poor milk yield

and infertility of Indian cows. Among other actions it is equally important to launch a

cattle feed mission. Grass fed cow milk is now accepted world over as most beneficial

milk due to its CLA and Omega3 contents. Stall fed concentrated grain feeding methods

have to be gradually phased out, in line with the internationally accepted strategies.

In conclusion, it is only by reviving the tradition of Indian breeds of household cows

and Organic systems of Agriculture that Food Security, stability, prosperity and a

healthy society can be achieved

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