For gau raksha, state tags 5.5L bovines at govt-aided shelters
SECURITY LABEL Tagging aimed at deterring shelter owners from abandoning cows
Rajasthan being the first state in the country to set up Gopalan ministry in 2014 is probably also the first to tag almost all cows kept in the governmentaided shelters with unique identification (UID) numbers.
“We started tagging cows with UIDs in January. The process is complete and we have tagged around 5.5 lakh cows at cow shelters,” said Otaram Dewasi, the state minister for gopalan.
He said the objective behind tagging the cows is to ensure their protection. “We are making efforts that cows that come to shelters and not get abandoned,” the minister added.
According to the last census conducted by the Directorate of Gopalan in November 2016, there were around 6.6 lakh cows at the 2,327 registered shelters in Rajasthan. Of them, around 5.5 lakh cows have been tagged at 1,163 shelters. The cows at remaining shelters were not tagged, as the state government takes into count only those cow shelters for grants, which have 200 or more cows. This year, the Gopalan department has granted ₹138 crore to the cow shelters.
Rajendra Kishan, director, Gopalan, said the code on a tag contains name of the animal (cow), goshala and district. “Through the tag record of the cows such as breed, age, sex, colour, identification mark, health etc is maintained. This was done for the first time,” he said.
Kishan said, “There were complaints that some shelter owners used to bring in additional cows at the time of verifi- cation and inflate the numbers to get the government grant and later abandoned them. Tagging the cows will deter such shelter owners from abandoning them, as the animal can be tracked through the tag.”
A senior official of the Gopalan department said the tagging would not just help in keeping a record of the cows, but also reduce road accidents, as shelter owners, which have less than 200 cows and do not get grants, would make efforts to bring in abandoned cows to their shelters to get the government grant.
The official said, “From November-December this year, we will start placing a 12-digit UID to new milch cattle whose record will be maintained by the National Dairy Development Board through a software. A pilot project for the same was started by the Union minister in Bassi town of Rajasthan in 2014-15. The move will help in tracking the milch cattle.”