Over 12,000 cows in Jharkhand get Aadhaar-like ID

EACH ANIMAL HAS BEEN TAGGED WITH A 12DIGIT UID NUMBER, WHICH IS FIXED AROUND ITS

EARS, WITH RECORDS OF IDENTIFICATION DETAILS

Jharkhand has tagged over 12,000 cows with Aadhaarlike 12-digit unique identification (UID) number to prevent illegal transportation of cattle, improve their milk yield and monitor their health, officials said amid a nationwide debate on cow vigilantism.

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that it will soon approve tamper-proof identity tags for all cattle in the country that will document a range of data, including a unique number and the type of their horn and tail, as part of efforts to prevent illegal transportation of cattle and livestock to Bangladesh.

Jharkhand State Implement Agency for Cattle and Buffalo (JSIACB), a wing of the government of India, has been working on a pilot project to tag its cattle with Aadhaar-like details in eight districts — Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Jamshedpur, Deoghar, Giridih and Lohardaga — much before the Centre’s proposal. The pilot project is being carried under the Centre’s INAPH (information network for animal productivity and health) scheme for a year in Jharkhand.

“The information will be uploaded on the master data within a week,” INAPH’s Jharkhand nodal in-charge KK Tiwary said.

Tiwary said each animal has been tagged with 12-digit UID numbers, which are fixed around its ears, with records of identification details such as age, breed, sex, lactation, height, body, colour, horn type, tail switch, special mark and others. In Jharkhand, there are 42 lakh head of cattle, and 70% of them are cows.

“The Centre has recently directed us to extend the programme to all 24 districts and tag at least 18 lakh cattle in a year,” Tiwary said.

JSIACB chief executive officer Govind Prasad said tracking breeding is one of the aims of the project. He said the unique ID would also help Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, constituted in each district of Jharkhand, to monitor and check illegal trade of cattle.

In a bid to check illegal trade of cattle and their slaughtering, the Jharkhand government issued an order on March 27 for the closure of illegal slaughterhouses across the state. The state administration has closed more than 1,000 illegal slaughterhouses.