Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Over 12,000 cows in Jharkhand get Aadhaar-like ID with horn, tail details

- Sanjoy Dey sanjoy.dey@hindustant­imes.com

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 is 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 their respective districts.

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 all illegal slaughterh­ouses across the state. The state administra­tion has closed more than 1,000 illegal slaughterh­ouses so far.

Jharkhand is one of the few states in the country where the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 2005, is in place.

The act imposes a penalty of ₹5,000 and imprisonme­nt of up to 5 years or both for offenders. However, despite the law, cow slaughter continues unabated in the several illegal slaughter houses across many districts.

 ?? HT PHOTO ?? Government officials tag a cow with unique identifica­tion number in Ranchi on Tuesday.
HT PHOTO Government officials tag a cow with unique identifica­tion number in Ranchi on Tuesday.
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India