From the archive, 7 September 1954: Cow and man compete for life in India

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/07/cow-india-man-sacred

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Bombay, September

One of India’s greatest problems is that of the sacred cow. But, unlike other Indian problems, it is a relatively easy one to solve.

In India there are 360,000,000 people, 200,000,000 cattle, and only 300,000,000 acres of arable land. Cow and man compete for life although the Indian cow is almost worthless. She calves perhaps two years later than any other cow, her yearly milk yield is that of an English cow’s weekly average. But the cow is sacred.

Gandhi once succeeded in having an ailing calf put to death in one of his Ashrams and there was nearly a riot. The law prohibits the slaughtering of cows unless they are more than fourteen years of age and in a number of states cow slaughter is completely banned. Mr Nehru once said in anger that the Hindu way of destruction was worship and he took the cow as his example.

Ailing cows are not killed, they are starved to death: healthy cows have to starve or feed on rubbish. Bullocks, not so sacred, are fed because India has too many cows and not enough bullocks.

The bullock requirement is dependent on the number of holdings and of the pulling power of the animal. In Madras it is usual to see nine pairs pulling one plough; each bullock is as small as a donkey. “Kill them off. Export their hides and bones. Get rid of them. Improve the economy.” This is the advice outsiders are generous with. This may be the answer but there are economic and religious obstacles. Indians will mention the economic factor to defend their apathy to the cow problem but never except with the deepest shyness the religious issues. Yet the latter is the only valid and real obstacle and also the one which carries the solution within itself. The cow is sacred.

There is nothing wrong in cow-worship; it is not idolatry or animalism or savagery. Cow-worship in India is a very gentle and beautiful symbol of interdependence of man and beast. It ranges from kindness to animals to fertility and teamwork on the soil properly exploited this attitude of the peasant to his beast would bring the solution of the cattle problem which is one of over-population and under-production. Trust the peasant to look after his interests once he knows where they lie, then he will follow no fancy, only factual economics.

One of the first sentences the Indian child has to spell out in his primer is “The cow is our mother, she gives us us milk, bullocks, dung.” Nowhere does it say what is her due. Proper instructions should be added on how to look after the cow, she should be fed as a bullock and then she would give more milk and the peasants would keep fewer cows. Gandhi had been carrying out an experiment in southern India for some time before his death on the effect of ploughing on the health of the cow, but new leadership in that field is not forthcoming. In Uttar Pradesh, however, where the local deer was called “nilgai” (blue cow) and ate crops with immunity, its name has been changed by deed poll to “nil ghora” (blue horse) and the villagers are killing them off as fast as they breed.